Recipe CXXXIX - Arroz Con Salchichas, Carne y Garbanzos

So I've rocked up in Spain. In August, we made the transition from Germany to Valencia and the chances of us returning north in the foreseeable future are pretty remote. What's more, I'd like to tell you about a theory of mine, based on this assumption: 

Spanish cuisine is head and shoulders above Italian. Why? Because it's been allowed to develop and adapt. And I think it's because of one very small but crucial difference - Italians name their food after either the place it was invented or the person who created it, and thus it is fixed in stone. Forever. There is no diversion from the recipe, or someone there will lose control and give your culo a good, hard schiaffeggio. 

In Spain, there are recipes named after places or people too, such as Paella Valenciana or Salmorejo Cordobés, but restaurant menus generally list items based on their ingredients, and for this sole reason, Spanish food has come on leaps and bounds in the twenty-first century, while Italian cuisine has painted itself into a corner, something the great Pellegrino Artusi would have definitely frowned upon.

Attempts at adapting recipes put most traditionalists (therefore most Italians) off - try adding some fresh sage in the ragù and watch them go nuts. Spanish restaurants not only offer a more diverse range of food, they are also much less pretentious. That isn't to say Italian food is bad; it's just a lot of it is underwhelming and rather outdated.

This recipe is one I adapted from a delightful dish I was served last week at the place round the corner from our office where we eat lunch three or four times a week. And this is the beauty of Spanish food - just choose the ingredients you want to add, which is why many of them below are optional.

Ingredients:

Four sliced longaniza sausages, or similar (thin pork sausages about 12cm long)

Two sliced black pudding sausages (optional)

350g diced veal

350g chick peas (optional - mine had some sliced truffles in)

3 diced carrots (optional)

Other diced vegetables, e.g. green peppers, peas, aubergine

1 large diced onion

2 to 4 cloves of garlic

350g traditional rice

1 litre meat broth

Olive oil for frying

A little salt and pepper

Some dried herbs (optional)

Some water (optional)

Instructions: 

Firstly, put your olive oil on medium heat and add your vegetables and garlic. 

Put a little salt and pepper in it and fry gently into a sofrito. Then add your sausages and meat and fry until they are sealed. 

Add your chick peas and the rice and start slowly pouring in your broth, letting it reduce before putting in some more. 

Keep this up for 15 to 20 minutes, then serve piping hot.

It should have a creamy and sticky texture.

¡Que aproveche!