This was one of our earliest recipes for the Brindisa restaurant in Shoreditch, east London. If possible, use Ibérico pork ribs, but otherwise use the best ribs you can find, with tasty nuggets of meat. In the finished dish they emerge from the rice – making it look a bit like the circle at Stonehenge.
Serves: 4
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour
5 tbsp olive oil
8 medium-large pork ribs
2 medium onions, finely chopped
2 medium garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 medium red pepper, finely chopped
Sea salt, to taste
400g morcilla (black pudding), peeled and sliced
1 sprig thyme
300g tomatoes, chopped
1-2 tbsp sugar
360g bomba rice
2l dark chicken stock, hot
1 tsp sweet paprika
Heat the oven to 200C/390F/gas mark 6. Heat one tbsp oil in a 38cm paella pan, brown the ribs on all sides, then remove from the pan and put to one side. Add three more tbsp of oil and gently sweat the onions and garlic until translucent. Add the red pepper, season with a pinch of salt and cook very gently for 10 minutes.
Add a quarter of the morcilla and the thyme, and cook for 10 minutes. Add the ribs and cook for another few minutes.
Stir in the tomatoes and bring to the boil. If necessary, add the sugar to counteract the acidity. Simmer for 10 minutes, until the sauce thickens.
Add the rice, two ladlefuls of hot stock and the paprika. Then add a litre of the stock and bring to a fast boil. After five minutes, push the ribs into the paella and lower the heat to a simmer for another five minutes.
Arrange the remaining morcilla on the rice, then add another ladleful of stock in a circular motion, working in from the edges of the pan.
Simmer for two minutes – the morcilla will begin to break up – then transfer to the oven for a final four minutes. The morcilla will cook through, any excess stock will reduce and the rice will be moist and dark, with the top slightly crisped.
Remove from the oven and gently stir the morcilla through the rice before serving.
Brindisa, The True Food of Spain by Monika Linton (£29.95, 4th Estate) is £24.56 at theguardianbookshop.com
