This Spanish ¨Arroz Empedrado¨ Rice with White Beans and Cod is one of the best Spanish rice dishes ever. Loaded with an immense amount of flavor, made with simple ingredients and done in about 45 minutes. This is a regional dish from Alto Palancia in the provience of Castellon. Not as popular as paella, but promises to be one of the greatest dishes that hail from Spain.
This rice dish is kind of like a paella, but it´s not a paella at all. The rice has a lot more broth to it, giving it kind of a soup like texture but without being a soup. To make this rice dish I used my paella pan, however you can use any type of large frying pan to put this recipe together.
Traditionally you use salt dried cod ¨bacalao¨ to make this rice dish, however I know it´s hard for some of you to find it in your area. So for this recipe I used a piece of fresh cod, which most everyone can find in their local area. You can also use frozen cod that has been fully thawed out.
Since this is a Spanish rice dish, it is very important to use high-quality saffron. This is what flavors Spanish dishes, don´t use the immitation stuff or any substitute. As always I used saffron threads from Golden saffron. Their saffron is high-quality Grade 1 premium saffron. Some of the best saffron money will buy.
Cookware that I use:
Swiss Diamond Chef´s Knife
Swiss Diamond Pans
Wood Cutting Board
Watch the Video Below on How to Make this Spanish ¨Arroz Empedrado¨ Rice with White Beans and Cod
Spanish ¨Arroz Empedrado¨ Rice with White Beans and Cod
Ingredients
- 14 oz fillet fresh cod
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1/2 onion
- 4 roasted red bell peppers
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup diced tomatoes
- 1 cup canned white beans
- 1 tsp sweet smoked paprika
- 1 cup round rice
- 1/2 tsp saffron threads
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- pinch sea salt
- pinch black pepper
- handful fresh parsley
Instructions
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Finely mince 4 cloves of garlic, finely dice 1/2 of an onion, roughly chop 4 jarred roasted red bell peppers and cut one 14 ounce (390 g) cod fillet into 1 inch by 1/2 inch pieces, season the cod with sea salt & freshly cracked black pepper
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Heat a sauce pan with a medium-high heat, add 4 cups of vegetable broth and pinch in 1/2 tsp of saffron threads
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At the same time, heat a paella pan (or any type of large frying pan) with a medium-high heat and add a 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil, after 2 minutes add the diced onions & minced garlic and mix around with the oil, after 3 minutes add the chopped roasted peppers, 1 tsp of sweet smoked paprika and mix it all together until well combined
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Next add 1/2 cup of canned diced tomatoes and season everything with sea salt & freshly cracked black pepper, once again mix everything together, 2 minutes later add 1 cup of round rice and 1 cup of canned white beans (make sure you drain the beans and rinse them under cold water before adding), season again with sea salt and gently mix it all together
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At this point the saffron infused vegetable broth should be boiling, gently pour it into the pan with the rest of the ingredients, give it a gently mix to make sure everything is evenly divided, after 10 minutes lower the fire to a low-medium heat and add the cod pieces, after 5 to 6 minutes everything should be perfectly cooked, you will notice a lot of extra broth, that is completely normal
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Remove the pan from the heat and cover with a dish cloth, after 5 minutes uncover the pan and serve directly from the pan or slather into shallow bowls, garnish with fresh parsley, enjoy!
Recipe Notes
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Mary
What is round rice? And is it raw or cooked when you add it to the broth? Muchas gracias.
14 . Jul . 2023Spain on a Fork
Very similar to short grain rice or arborio rice, you add it uncooked 🙂 Much love
16 . Jul . 2023Kelly Stoner
Would it be okay to substitute chicken broth?
04 . Jun . 2023Spain on a Fork
Absolutely! Much love 🙂
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07 . Jan . 2021Cia
07 . Jan . 2021Lovely!
Spain on a Fork
Thank you 🙂 Much love!
07 . Jan . 2021Spanish Rice with White Beans and Cod - Yum Goggle
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30 . Apr . 2020Karen A B
I haven’t tried this recipe yet, but it looks delicious! I plan to try it sometime next week. Do you think it would taste okay if I used scallops instead of cod? Btw, I just found your website, it’s awesome! Thanks!
30 . Jan . 2020Spain on a Fork
Yes, you can totally use scallops instead of cod 🙂 thanks so much for the comment! much love
30 . Jan . 2020Kamil
What a great blog! Delicious recipes. I will try many of them:))
27 . Oct . 2019Spain on a Fork
Thanks for the comment Kamil 🙂 much love <3
27 . Oct . 2019