Spicy and Creamy Crawfish Rice

Chef Sergio Salvador has a great recipe for these days of confinement. The ingredients are calculated for two people.

SPICY AND CREAMY CRAWFISH RICE

All the taste of crawfish in a spicy sauce transformed into a creamy rice.

FOR THE SPICY CREAM

• 2 cloves of garlic
• 3 pear tomatoes
• 1/2 glass of white wine
• 1/4 glass of brandy
• 1/2 onion
• 1/2 Italian green pepper
• 1/2 teaspoons of ground cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
• 1 bay leaf
• 5 mint leaves

1- Fry the finely chopped onion, garlic and pepper in olive oil.

2- Lower the heat and add the ground cayenne pepper, paprika and bay leaf, toasting for half a minute over low heat.

3. Turn up the heat again and add the peeled tomatoes (previously scalded in boiling water and cooled in ice water to easily peel).  Mash them. Cook over medium heat for 20 minutes.

4- Add the brandy and later the white wine, cooking for another 10 minutes so as much alcohol as possible evaporates.

5- Add the mint leaves and cook for two more minutes to destroy most of the enzymes that would otherwise oxidize the color.

6- Add salt and blend well.

FOR THE ROCKFISH AND SEAFOOD BROTH

1- Choose any type of fish or seafood suitable for broth from the fish shop. For best results, use rockfish such as scorpion fish and seafood such as saltwater crabs or velvet crabs.

2- To make the broth you can cook the fish and seafood with or without vegetables and directly in water or by roasting well in the oven first. The difference will be in the taste; the first technique provides a more natural, yet less savory fish taste and the second, a toasted taste. The second option is recommended for this recipe (but, again, it’s purely a personal preference).

3- Remember to cook the fish stock for only 30 minutes. Otherwise, the fish will begin to decompose which leads to an unpleasant ammonia-like taste.

FOR THE CRAWFISH RICE

• 20 cooked crawfish
• 160 g Bomba rice
• 1 teaspoon of Ñora pepper paste
• 450 ml fish stock (previous recipe)
• 2 tablespoons of hot cream

1- You don’t make a fried garlic and oil base since the spicy cream and the broth will provide all the personality needed.

2- Mix the 400 ml of fish stock with two spoonfuls of the spicy cream to create the base to cook the rice.

3- Fry the rice in oil for one minute in a large frying pan and then add the Ñora pepper paste. Flip twice and then add the fish broth and hot spicy cream mixture.

4- Add salt to taste. The broth should be a little salty (without going too far) since the rice is bland and the salt will later balance out.

5- Cook the rice over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally.

6- In the meantime, peel the crawfish.

7- Once the rice is finished (almost dry), add the crawfish and all the spicy cream you want. This last step will give you a creamy rice with spectacular flavor.

Recipe by Sergio Salvador