Rice with octopus and prawns

How to make a rice with octopus and shrimp .

I present you a traditional and very tasty rice recipe , with that delicious touch that characterizes me.

A rice that will love anyone who likes octopus, I also assure you that it will be perfect with all the secrets to cook the octopus  and that it is cooked .

I like to make it a little syrupy  because it is very juicy, with an intermediate cooking point between dry rice  and broth rice, it is almost like a risotto without being so.

It has neither cheese nor butter, the texture is given by rice, water from vegetables, white wine, tomato pulp and finally the fish and seafood broth (with water from the octopus cooking).

In the end, the proportion of liquid would be 3 parts per 1 of rice (as you will see if you count all the liquid that I mentioned earlier), we add 2 and a half liquid for each part of rice. But the addition of liquid above makes it a bit syrupy, as we like at home.

In order not to complicate our lives and make it perfect, even for kitchens that do it for the first time, we are going to use Sabroz rice . A type of round grain rice that will be loose between a sweet sauce, as you see in the photo, a first-class sweet rice.

A simple and very tasty recipe that reminds me of holidays in Galicia, with all the quality guarantee of the products we are using and perfect to enjoy with family or friends.

The broth and the octopus. Before starting the recipe

• The broth is essential since it will be the one that flavor the rice. Normally we will use poultry, meat, vegetables or a good fish and seafood broth , depending on the ingredients that accompany the rice.
• In this case we have taken advantage of part of the octopus cooking water, which will be perfect to give all this rice its flavor.
• It never occurs to you to throw the octopus cooking water, it is wonderful, either to use in this recipe, in a risotto with octopus or in my famous octopus croquettes .
• We are going to use half of a fish broth that I had left over at Christmas and the other half of the octopus cooking.
• You can see how to cook the octopus in the Galician octopus recipe . Remember to save the cooking water (you can even freeze it) because it will be perfect for broths,  octopus pie dough , cooking pasta or this rice.
• Here you have the video of how to cook the octopus , in case you want to do the whole process.
• In today’s recipe we have used 3 legs of an octopus of 2 and a half kg. But if you don’t have time to do it, you can buy the cooked octopus now, it even sells it vacuum-packed with its cooking water. Everything is facilities.

Preparation of the vegetable base of this rice

1. We cut and chop the onions and the peppers (green and red) very fine so that they melt in the cooking. It is important not to notice its texture but the flavor they give to rice.
2. Peel the 2 garlic cloves and crush them (or chop very finely). Add to the casserole.
3. Cut the 2 tomatoes in half and grate. If you don’t have anything to grate them with, just cut them into very small dice. We reserve.
4. We cut the very thin asparagus, in this case, they are optional. I had them in the fridge and I added them to give a green touch and flavor to the sofrito.
5. Add the extra virgin olive oil to the saucepan where we are going to prepare the rice.
6. When the oil is hot, fry the onions and peppers about 5 minutes over medium-high heat, always stirring carefully.
7. Add salt, paprika from Vera and tomato pulp. We remove all together ingredients and flavors. In time to pour the white wine and give power to the fire.
8. Cook over medium heat with the rest of the vegetables for 6-8 minutes. Just enough for the liquid and alcohol to evaporate.
9. It’s time to add the bay leaf, the prawns that had previously thawed and the octopus legs already cooked. We have cut the octopus before (pieces similar to those in the photo), we distribute them throughout the casserole.
10. We try salt, in case it is necessary to add more. We remove everything and give the octopus a leading role.

Preparation of rice with octopus and shrimp.

1. We add the rice and stir everything gently so that it is well impregnated with the stew and absorbs the flavor.
2. Leave for 1 more minute over medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon or spatula so that it does not stick.
3. To achieve a good syrupy rice, we must calculate the necessary water well. Thus the rice continues to absorb broth once the fire has been extinguished. The end point of this type of rice must be neither very dry nor broth.
4. The exact liquid measurements are 2 and a half parts of broth for every 1 of rice. Even so, if we observe that the rice is a little hard, but the casserole is running out of sufficient liquid, we will gradually add more water until it is ready.
5. We raise the temperature to the maximum until it begins to boil and then we lower it in half. It has to be done little by little (it lasts about 16 minutes).
6. We rectify liquid with water and we are testing the rice. Remove from the heat and let stand 5 minutes.
7. We serve just after resting, since it is fresh and hot as best it is. I recommend you bring the casserole to the table and serve your guests.

The photos do not lie. I assure you that it is a dish to repeat or leave the casserole on the table and leave it clean. You will tell me …

You can see all the photos of the step by step in the  recipe for rice with octopus and shrimp .

Do not lose detail and a perfect rice will come out the first time, like a true rice professional.