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Spain · Blue Crab

Ebro Delta Blue Crab Rice

Arròs amb Cranc Blau

Blue crabs have taken over the rice country of the Ebro Delta, and the locals answered the way they know best: a pan of rice cooked in a deep crab sofregit, served with a dab of allioli.

  • Prep 25 min
  • Cook 45 min
  • Serves 4
  • Level Medium
Photo: Marcelo Verfe · Pexels
Served with: Garlic Allioli ↓En Español

Ingredients

Tap each item as you gather it.

For the crab and sofregit

For the rice

Method

Step by step, the way it is done on the island.

  1. Brown the crabs. Heat the oil in a 14-inch (35 cm) paella pan or wide shallow pot over medium-high heat. Sear the crab halves 3–4 minutes, turning, until red. Push them to the edge.
  2. Make the sofregit. Lower the heat and cook the onion and pepper in the middle of the pan 10 minutes. Add the garlic for 1 minute, then the tomato, and cook 8 minutes until thick and dark. Stir in the paprika.
  3. Add the rice. Stir the rice into the sofregit for 1 minute so every grain is coated. Crumble in the saffron, pour in the hot stock and salt, and spread the rice evenly. Settle the crabs on top.
  4. Cook without stirring. Boil hard 8 minutes, then lower to a simmer for 9–10 minutes more, until the stock is absorbed and the rice is just tender. Don’t stir.
  5. Rest and serve. Turn off the heat, cover with a clean towel and let it rest 5 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley and serve from the pan with allioli.

On the side

The side dish that belongs with it, full recipe included.

Catalonia & Valencia, Spain

Garlic Allioli

Allioli

Garlic and olive oil pounded into a thick, glossy sauce. On the Catalan and Valencian coast a bowl of it goes on the table with grilled fish and seafood rice.

  • Prep 15 min
  • Cook 0 min
  • Serves 6
  • Level Medium

You need

  • 4 garlic cloves, peeled
  • ½ tsp coarse salt
  • 1 egg yolk (optional, makes it much easier)
  • ¾ cup olive oil (mild, not too peppery)
  • 1 tsp lemon juice

How to make it

  1. Make a paste. Pound the garlic with the salt in a mortar until it is a completely smooth paste. Add the egg yolk now if using and stir it in.
  2. Add the oil slowly. Add the oil drop by drop, stirring constantly in one direction with the pestle. As it thickens you can add it in a thin thread.
  3. Keep it thick. Keep going until all the oil is in and the sauce is thick enough to hold a spoon. If it splits, start a new yolk in a clean bowl and beat the broken sauce into it slowly.
  4. Finish. Stir in the lemon juice and taste for salt. Serve the same day.

Photo: Juan Emilio Prades Bel · CC BY 4.0

More ways to cook Blue Crab

Same fish, a different corner of the sea.

Store Bay, Tobago, Trinidad and TobagoTobago Curry Crab
Salvador, Bahia, BrazilBrazilian Stuffed Crab Shells
Matanzas, CubaCuban Crab in Creole Sauce
Baltimore, MarylandMaryland Lump Crab Cakes