Arroz del Senyoret

Arroz del Senyoret is Alicante's, an arroz seco from the Valencian coast where the seafood arrives already peeled. The joke is in the name: the senyoret, the little gentleman, should not have to dirty his fingers. Under the joke is a serious marinero rice, dry and shallow, with prawns, squid, monkfish, and mussels ready to eat with a fork. This is not a Valencian paella wearing seafood. It is its own Alicante rice.

The method that decides it is the measured fumet and the leaving alone. First comes the salmorreta, the Alicante base of ñora pepper, garlic, parsley, and tomato cooked down until dark and sweet. Then the rice is toasted in that oil before the hot fish fumet goes in all at once. From that moment, no stirring. Stir and you loosen the starch; leave it and the grains cook separate, with the dark socarrat crust forming underneath.

No hace falta haber pisado España. If you are far from Alicante, use bomba rice if you can, Calasparra if that is what you find, and arborio only at a pinch, knowing it will finish softer and creamier. Raw frozen prawns with the shells on are better than tired fresh ones without shells, because those shells make the fumet. Pésalo, no lo adivines: weigh the rice, measure the stock, spread it thin. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.