Arroz del senyoret, also called arroz del señoret or arroz del señorito, is a typical dish from Alicante that derives from arroz a banda and that consists of a paella of clean rice, that is, with all the shellfish and peeled fish. The origin of the senyoret rice goes back to the wealthy classes when the servants cooked this dish to the taste of the gentleman of the house where they worked. In addition, everything was peeled so that the “senyoret” did not have to make any effort when eating the paella.
Luckily, we currently cook this dish for other reasons and with many different ingredients, so we want to teach you how to make a good señoret rice with the step by step that follows below.
Ingredients to make Senyoret rice:
- 1 liter of fish broth or fumet
- 200 grams of raw peeled prawns
- 200 grams of squid clean and chopped
- 100 grams of shelled clams
- 100 grams of shelled mussels
- 250 grams of emperor chopped into squares
- 1 tablespoon salmorreta (sweet paprika and chopped fresh parsley can be used instead)
- 1 cup of natural or grated crushed tomato
- 8 handfuls of round or bomba rice
- 1 pinch of saffron threads
- 1 cup of extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
How to make Senyoret rice:
- The first step to make this arroz Del senorito is to prepare the seafood and fish that you are going to use. To do this, you must take into account that each of these ingredients must be peeled, cleaned and chopped, this quality is what indicates that it is an authentic senyoret rice.
- Heat a good jet of oil in a paella pan or frying pan and fry the shellfish and fish, stirring so that it cooks everywhere, for approximately 3 minutes. Being small pieces, no more time will be necessary. Reserve to continue with the senyoret paella recipe.
- In the same oil as the previous sauce, sauté the crushed tomato with a tablespoon of salmorreta. If you don’t have salmorreta, substitute it with paprika and chopped parsley or follow this Homemade Salmorreta Recipe.
- Once the salmorreta is diluted, add the rice and stir so that it is well soaked. On the other hand, have the fumet or fish broth prepared. You can use two fish stock tablets and add water or use homemade or commercial fish stock, although the senyoret rice will be much tastier with the homemade stock.
- Slowly pour in the broth while stirring so that the rice does not stick to the bottom. This is going to be the only time you stir the rice, since this is how true Valencia senyoret rice is made.
- Trick: for a sweet or broth rice Del senyoret, add more broth.
- Wait until the broth begins to boil and add the saffron threads, distributing them throughout the pan or frying pan. If you don’t have saffron, you can use food coloring, although the flavor of the saffron thread is a very important seasoning in this Mediterranean flavor.
- Let the senyoret rice cook over high heat, as long as the heat used is wide and it is fully distributed. Normally, it takes about 20 minutes to make. This type of paella has the peculiarity that the rice should not be completely done, since, after these minutes, it is removed from the heat, covered with newspaper and left to rest for 5-10 minutes to finish cooking. Cook. While the arroz Del senorito rests, you can take the opportunity to prepare a homemade aioli to accompany it.
