Arroz de Marisco (Portuguese Seafood Rice)

Ingredients

Method

1. 01
   Peel the prawns and keep every head and shell. Simmer them in the water with a little salt for 15 minutes, blitz the lot and strain it. This stock is the dish; nothing you buy in a carton will stand in for it.
   
2. 02
   Sit the clams and mussels in salted water for half an hour to purge the sand, then scrub them and throw out any that stay open when tapped.
3. 03
   Soften the chopped onion and garlic in the olive oil until translucent, add the chopped tomatoes and cook for 5 to 8 minutes until they collapse into a sauce.
4. 04
   Pour in the white wine, let it reduce for two minutes, then add the hot stock, the coriander stalks and the piri piri sauce and bring it to a boil.
5. 05
   Add the rice without washing it — the surface starch is what makes the broth creamy — and cook at a steady simmer for 12 minutes, stirring now and then.
   
6. 06
   Add the clams and mussels, then the prawns, and cook for another 5 minutes until the shells open and the rice is just short of soft. Loosen with more stock if it tightens.
   
7. 07
   Take the pot off the heat, stir through the chopped coriander and check the salt. Serve straight away, loose and brothy — malandrinho, as the Portuguese say, never dry.

FAQ