Arroz Meloso de Rabo with Wood-Fired Broth and Marcona Almonds
Soupy rice with braised oxtail, and a Marcona almond gremolata.
This is a Sunday-afternoon plate, the kind that fills a cazuela and a table in equal measure. The wood-fired poultry broth does the quiet work — smoke carries the rice, then disappears behind the collagen of a proper braised oxtail. A final shower of crushed Marcona almonds over the top is what moves this from peasant cooking to a composed dish.
Ingredients
- Spain's First Wood-Fired Poultry Broth for Paella (1L)
- Premium Roasted Marcona Almonds with Sea Salt 7.5oz
- Hand-Harvested "Fleur de Sel" Salt from Ibiza | 5.3 oz Ceramic Pot
- Award-winning Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Picual 500ml.
- Premium Albufera Rice for Paella. 2.2lb (1kg)
Preparation
- Season 1.2 kg (2.6 lb) of oxtail pieces with salt and sear in olive oil in a heavy Dutch oven until deeply browned on all sides, about 12 minutes.
- Remove the oxtail. In the same pot, sweat 2 diced onions, 1 leek, and 3 cloves of garlic for 10 minutes over medium heat until soft and golden.
- Add 1 cup of red wine, scrape the fond, and reduce by half (about 4 minutes). Return the oxtail to the pot.
- Add 750 ml of the Wood-Fired Poultry Broth plus 250 ml water to barely cover. Simmer covered for 2.5 hours until the meat falls from the bone. Shred and reserve. Strain and degrease the braising liquid — you will need 1.5 L total, topped up with more broth if short.
- In a wide paellera or shallow cazuela, toast 300 g (10.6 oz) of Albufera or bomba-style rice in 2 tbsp olive oil for 90 seconds.
- Add the hot broth 500 ml at a time, stirring like a risotto. Total cook time 17–18 minutes. You want it meloso — loose and glossy, not dry.
- Fold the shredded oxtail back in during the last 2 minutes. Taste, adjust salt.
- Pulse 60 g Marcona almonds in a food processor with 2 tbsp minced parsley and the zest of half a lemon until coarse and sandy — do not over-process. Finish each portion with the almond gremolata and a pinch of Fleur de Sel.
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