Annoy your spanish friends by pressure-cooking paella in seven minutes

I’m a huge fan of modernist cuisine, and can heartily recommend their book Modernist Cuisine at Home, which introduces loads of funky geeky concepts with delicious, reproducible results.

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Modernist Cuisine at Home

They love using pressure cookers, mostly because one has a controlled environment in terms of temperature and air humidity (the latter affects cooking times, believe it or not).

One of the eye-openers is that the ‘risotto’ or ‘paella’ effect can also be done in a pressure cooker: creamy yet al dente inside.

You’ll need to shop at a spanish speciality shop for the ingredients.

Here is the recipe, reproduced with kind permission from Modernist Cuisine:

Annoy your spanish friends by pressure-cooking paella in seven minutes

Course: Recipes
Servings

2

servings
Prep time

30

minutes
Cooking time

10

minutes

Ingredients

  • Vegetables
  • 50g piquillo peppers

  • 25g minced fennel

  • 25g minced onion

  • 20g minced carrot

  • 40g olive oil

  • 7.5g minced garlic

  • Rice
  • 150g bomba rice (or other short-grained paella rice)

  • Liquids
  • 300g chicken stock

  • 70g dry sherry

  • Garnish
  • 7g Pimenton dulce

  • 2g thyme leaves

  • Cooked meats
  • 200g fried shrimp, or cooked chicken, or braised snails

Directions

  • mise en place
  • Sweat the vegetables in oil in the base of a pressure cooker over medium heat until tender and translucent, about 3 minutes
  • Stir rice into the vegetable mixture and cook until the rice turns shiny and translucent, about 2 minutes
  • Stir liquids into the mixture
  • Pressure-cook at a gauge pressure of 1bar for 7 minutes. Start timing when full pressure is reached.
  • Depressurize the pressure cooker
  • Check the rice for tenderness. It should be al dente. If necessary, simmer uncovered for a minute or two longer.
  • Stir garnish into the rice, and let rest for 1 minute.
  • Fold shrimps or cooked meat into the paella, and serve it immediately.