RICE WITH STUFF.

The Spanish have a term for it: arroz con cosas. Rice with stuff, or rice with things. I like it.

This is a very different concept to paella, as Jamie Oliver discovered when he once posted a recipe for paella with chicken and sausage on Instagram. A very nice recipe it was, too, but it wasn’t paella, cried the Spanish. They jumped on him from a great height for destroying the integrity of Valencia’s most famous dish by putting sausage in it.

So this, my people, is definitely arroz con cosas. Rice With Stuff. Not paella.

My version of Rice With Stuff sees the rice cooked with onion, garlic, tomato and red capsicum. That’s the base recipe, then you add the ‘stuff’.

I’m thinking a handful of split and grilled prawns on top would be ideal. Or channel Jamie and serve it with sizzling chorizo sausages, or grilled lamb chops, or roasted chicken thighs.

Or – getting fancy now – salt cod and guindilla peppers, or mussels and zucchini, or jamon and wild mushrooms.

Or don’t add much stuff at all, given that it is beautiful as it is.  Just throw a pile of peas or green beans at it, and some garlicky aioli.

A word about the crust. I cook this rice on the stove, because I like a crusty bottom, the ‘soccarat’ that is so sought-after by the great rice cooks of Spain. Depending on how risk-averse you are (it can burn), you can finish the cooking in the oven instead. Bake it uncovered, and the rice on top will dry out and give you a nice little crunch. In neither case should you stir the rice after the first 15 minutes of cooking. Just let it happen.

Look at this incredible arroz dish I had at Carles Abellan’s former restaurant in the old port district of Barcelona (he still has the brilliant Tapas 24). This is what I aim for now when I cook rice in the Spanish, Portuguese or Catalan style - that sort of dryness and spareness. Not a big thick, wet, soupy thing like Portuguese arroz de rojo (great in its own right), but reduced, lean, intense and almost caramelised.

RICE WITH STUFF

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• Half a whole head of garlic (yes, cut it in half across the cloves)

• Half red onion, finely sliced

• Half red capsicum, sliced into short thin fingers

• 250 g Spanish or arborio rice

• 400 g can of tomatoes plus juices

• 1 or 2 fresh tomatoes, roughly chopped

• 1 tbsp tomato paste

• 1 tsp sea salt

• Half tsp smoked paprika

• A few saffron threads if you have them, crushed

• 600 to 700 ml vegetable or chicken stock

Heat the oil in a wide, shallow pan and place the garlic cut-side down in the oil.

Add the onion and capsicum and fry for 3 or 4 minutes, tossing well, until they start to soften.

Add the rice and stir with a wooden spoon for 2 minutes until toasty and well-coated.

Add the canned tomatoes and their juices, the fresh tomato, tomato paste, sea salt, paprika, crushed saffron and the stock and bring to the boil, stirring.

Allow to simmer gently for 15 minutes. When the rice appears above the liquid, stop stirring, and cook for a further 10 minutes, moving the pan around on the heat to avoid burning (or chuck it in the oven instead, see note below).

To serve, flip the half head of garlic over, and scatter the rice with – anything you like.

Serves 2 to 4, depending on how many Things you serve with it.

#  The rice. Look for short grain, almost round, rice from Spain such as Bomba or Calasparra, which absorb the stock and cook in 20 minutes, yet retain plumpness and texture without going squishy-soft. Italian arborio works, too, as does Sunrice Calrose (Woolworths stock the medium-grain).

# The pan. Choose a wide, shallow pan to enable a greater area of crust to form underneath. If you’re cooking with gas, make sure you move the pan around on the heat over the last ten minutes. Leave it in one place and the hottest spot will burn and taint the rest of the rice. We don’t want that.

# I know, you’re all thinking ‘thanks Jill, but what am I going to do with the other half head of garlic?’ I foresee a golden roast chicken in your future, with the garlic cooking alongside until soft enough to whip through butter or mashed potatoes.

# If you intend to serve the rice with prawns, then whip off the prawn heads first and fry them up in a dash of olive oil, pressing down with a potato masher to get all the good stuff out. Add a cup of stock or water, simmer for a couple of minutes, then strain out the heads and add the prawn head bisque to your rice for its beautifully dirty, heady flavour.

# You can do the first 10 to 15 minutes on the stove, then move the pan to the oven (200C) for another 10 minutes for the rice to absorb the stock and dry out a bit.

#  Aioli/alioli/allioli is great with Rice With Stuff. So is - who knew?- fresh mozzarella, which softens and melts into the rice. Scatter with basil and drizzle with olive oil for a super-summery feels-like-pizza-but-its-rice moment. I know, it’s my Jamie moment, but hey, it’s Rice With Things. Mozzarella is a Thing.

Thanks for reading! And special thanks to Terry for taking one look at the rice in the pan and racing out to get prawns, scallops and Lolligo squid to throw on top (not shown here because I’m so bad at shooting food at night).

I would also like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands and waters upon which I work, live, cook and play; the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. I fully support the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and for an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice to be enshrined in Australia’s Constitution. It’s about time, folks.