Arròs a la sitgetana [Sitges-style rice]

Our grandparents’ rice

INGREDIENTS

• 6 sausages
• 9 prawns
• 6 langoustines
• 18 clams
• 500 g pork rib
• 2 cuttlefish
• 100 g onion
• 300 g red pepper
• 300 g green pepper
• 400 g tomato
• 100 g green peas
• 600 g rice
• 100 g pork fat
• 1 glass of olive oil
• 1 small glass of Malvasia from Sitges
• 3/4 L meat stock
• 3/4 L fish stock
• Salt for the mix:
• 4 garlic cloves
• Roasted almonds
• Saffron strands

Firstly, Xató, and then a good ‘arròs mariner’ (seafood rice dish).
It sounds good doesn’t it? In fact, our town has a wide range of cuisine linked to fish and rice seafood dishes. Among these the so-called ‘arròs a la sitgetana’ [Sitges-style rice] stands out, which is a dish recovered by Emerencià Roig Raventòs in his book ‘El Sitges dels nostres avis’, published in 1934 and based on oral transcriptions which portray life in Sitges in the 19th century.
The special characteristic of this rice is that it combines produce from the sea and the mountains, as well as incorporating a very special ingredient, native to the area: Malvasia wine.

 

METHOD

Put oil and butter into the pot and add the rib. Let it cook until it starts to colour.
Then add the cuttlefish and leave it to cook until its water evaporates. Then, add the finely chopped onion and the green and red peppers. Let it fry for a while. Then add the blanched tomatoes (finely chopped, without seeds) and the Malvasia from Hospital de Sitges, and let it reduce. Then add the peas, the fish stock and the oil, and leave them to cook until it starts to boil. To make the chopped mix, put the salt, saffron, almonds and a garlic clove in a mortar, and crush them until fine. Next, add the mix to the pot and leave to cook for 10 minutes. When the rice starts to boil, add the salt. Add a langoustine, a sausage and a prawn for every person, and three clams per serving. Finally, put the pot in the oven at 220 degrees for 5 minutes.