Saffron Seafood Rice Pot
- Savory
- French
- Stovetop
- Oven
A golden one-pot rice simmered in a saffron and white wine base, with sweet leeks, tender cod and prawns folded through at the end. A festive centrepiece that cooks in a single pot.
- Total
- 55 min
- Prep 15 · Cook 35 · Rest 5
- Serves
- 4
- Difficulty
- Medium
You'll practice: Sweating · Absorption rice
Instructions
-
Trim the leeks, halve them lengthwise and slice into 1 cm half-moons. Rinse well in a colander to release grit and drain.
~8 min
Leeks trap soil between their layers, so rinsing the sliced rings lets the grit fall away instead of turning up in the finished dish.
-
Crumble the saffron into a small bowl, pour over 2 tbsp of the 600 ml water and leave to steep.
~2 min
Steeping saffron in warm water draws out its colour and aroma compounds so they spread evenly through the rice rather than staining in patches.
-
Heat the olive oil in the large pan over medium heat. Add the leeks with 0.5 tsp of the salt and cook, stirring, until soft and glossy, about 8 minutes. Do not let them brown.
~8 min
Gentle heat with a little salt softens the leeks and draws out their sweetness without browning, which would add bitterness to the delicate saffron base.
Sweating Cook the leeks low and slow with a pinch of salt until soft and glossy; if they start to colour, the heat is too high and they will turn bitter.
-
Stir the rice into the leeks and toast for 1 minute until the grains look translucent at the edges. Pour in the white wine and let it bubble away for 2 minutes.
~3 min
Toasting firms the rice grains so they stay separate, and the wine evaporating off adds acidity while carrying the saffron flavour into the grains.
Absorption rice Toast the grains until translucent at the edges, then simmer covered without stirring so the rice absorbs the liquid evenly and stays separate.
-
Add the steeped saffron with its 2 tbsp water, the remaining 580 ml water and 0.5 tsp of the salt. Bring to a gentle simmer, cover and cook until most of the liquid is absorbed and the rice is nearly tender, 15 to 18 minutes.
~18 min
A gentle simmer lets the rice absorb the liquid slowly and evenly, keeping the grains intact instead of splitting and turning the base gluey.
Keep the heat gentle once the rice goes in: a hard boil makes the grains split and turns the base gluey, while a soft simmer keeps them separate and seasoned through.
Absorption rice Toast the grains until translucent at the edges, then simmer covered without stirring so the rice absorbs the liquid evenly and stays separate.
-
Pat the cod fillets dry, season with the remaining 0.5 tsp salt and the black pepper, and cut into 4 cm chunks. Nestle the cod and prawns into the rice, cover and cook until the cod flakes and the prawns turn opaque, 6 to 8 minutes.
~8 min
Nestling the seafood on top lets it poach in the steam, so it cooks gently and stays moist instead of breaking up in the rice.
Add the cod and prawns only at the end and in a single layer on top of the rice, so they poach in the steam and stay moist instead of breaking up.
-
Stir in the 80 ml cream, cover and let the pot stand off the heat so the rice finishes steaming and the flavours settle.
~5 min
Residual heat finishes the rice and lets the cream mingle without boiling, which would split it and make the sauce grainy.
