Black rice with prawns, mackerel and aioli

Black rice with prawns, mackerel and aioli

Recipe below!

Black rice (arroz negro) is a Valencian and Catalan dish that I just love. The flavour from the squid ink is delicious and intense. It works perfectly with the aioli and it just reminds me of holidays in Spain! Save this and give it a go, it’s actually a pretty simple recipe!

Ingredients (3-4 people):
Black rice:
1 onion, finely chopped
250g squid, sliced into small cubes
Olive oil for frying
1.25L fish stock (I made some stock from the prawn heads but stock pots are a good alternative)
5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Bunch parsley, roughly chopped
300g paella rice
100ml white wine
2 tbsp squid ink (I went to )
2 tbsp tomato purée
10-15 raw prawns, peeled
2 mackerel fillets, skin scored
25g butter

Aioli:
2 large garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
0.25tsp salt
0.5 tsp lemon juice
60ml olive oil (extra virgin)
0.5 tsp water

Method:
1. For the rice, fry your onion in olive oil for 5 mins. Add the garlic and fry for 3 mins. Add your squid and fry for 2 mins. Add your white wine and cook off for 5-10 mins.
2. Add parsley stalks and tomato paste and cook for 2 mins. Add your rice and the squid ink and fry for 5 mins. Add your stock, 100ml at a time on a low simmer, stirring a lot. After the first 100ml, cook until it’s disappeared then add the next one.
3. While that’s cooking, make the aioli. Mash the garlic and salt in a pestle and mortar. Add the lemon juice and a tsp oil. Stir and mash in, then add another and repeat until it thickens. If it gets too thick, add water. Set aside.
4. Once you have nearly used all the stock your rice should be nearing al dente. If not, when the stock runs out add water in 100ml batches until it is al dente. Add the butter, nearly all of the parsley, mix, don’t stir from this point on.
5. Put a frying pan on a high heat. Add some olive oil. Season the mackerel and prawns. Add the mackerel for 90 seconds skin down, flip and cook for 1 more min. Cover on a plate and set aside. Add the prawns, fry for 2 mins or until cooked through. Top the rice with the fish, prawns, aioli and parsley. I served with torched peppers