Signature · 1 hour 30 minutes · Serves 4
Chorizos in pomarola with saffron-lemon creamy rice and burnt lemon
The chorizos a la pomarola of Argentine home cooking: fresh pork sausages cooked in a thick tomato sauce, with sofrito and basil. The dish keeps that flavor and arranges it as a main course: golden chorizos glazed in the pomarola, sliced into medallions over a creamy rice.
The twist is in the side. Instead of mashed potatoes or bread, a creamy saffron rice, finished with butter, cheese, lemon zest and a little burnt lemon, which brings a toasted acidity to cut the richness of the chorizo. The chorizo is browned, deglazed with Malbec and reduced with the pomarola until lacquered. Thin fried carrot slices add crunch and a basil oil, color and freshness.
Special equipment: kitchen thermometer; mandoline or vegetable peeler; hand blender
Ingredients
Chorizos in pomarola
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large white onion (about 180 g), in fine brunoise
- 1 medium carrot (about 120 g), in fine brunoise
- 1 celery stalk (about 70 g), in fine brunoise
- 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 kg ripe plum tomatoes, peeled and chopped, or 800 g canned whole tomatoes
- 1 bay leaf
- 6–8 fresh basil leaves
- Fine salt and black pepper
- 4 fresh pork sausages (chorizos), 180–200 g each
- 60 ml red wine, preferably a young Malbec
Basil oil
- 20 g fresh basil leaves
- 60 ml olive oil
- 1 pinch of salt
Saffron and lemon creamy rice
- 1.1–1.2 liters hot vegetable stock
- 0.15 g saffron threads
- 1 lemon
- 1 shallot, finely chopped
- 40 ml olive oil
- 320 g Carnaroli or Arborio rice
- 80 ml dry white wine
- 40 g cold butter
- 40 g finely grated Parmesan-style cheese
- Salt
Crisp carrot
- 1 carrot
- 150 ml neutral oil, for frying
- Fine salt
Finishing
- Basil microgreens, optional
- Flaky salt, optional
Method
Chorizos in pomarola
- Pomarola. In a heavy pot over medium heat, cook the onion, carrot, celery and garlic in the oil for 10–12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender and translucent, without over-browning. Add the paprika, oregano and sugar for 30 seconds, to wake up the aromas. Add the tomatoes and bay leaf, season lightly and cook over low heat, with the pot partly covered, for 35–40 minutes, stirring occasionally, to a thick, glossy, concentrated sauce. Remove the bay leaf, add the basil torn by hand and correct the salt and pepper.
- Chorizos. Prick them lightly with a toothpick, without making too many holes so they do not lose their juices. Brown them in a large pan over medium-high heat, with a few drops of oil if needed, 3–4 minutes per side, to a well-caramelized exterior, and remove them.
- Glazing. Deglaze the pan with the wine, scraping the bottom, and reduce 1 minute. Return the chorizos with about 2 ladles of pomarola and cook 5–6 minutes, turning them, until the sauce reduces around them into a glossy glaze and the center reaches 74 °C (165 °F). Keep them at the minimum heat.
Basil oil
- Blending. Process the basil with the oil and salt in a tall container to an intense green oil and, if you like, strain it.
Saffron and lemon creamy rice
- Saffron and lemon. Infuse the saffron in 50 ml of the hot stock for at least 10 minutes. Finely grate part of the lemon zest, without the white pith, and burn a thick slice in a very hot pan, 30–40 seconds per side, until it has well-toasted areas; chop very finely a little of its pulp and caramelized peel.
- Base. Cook the shallot in the oil over medium heat for 2 minutes, without browning. Add the rice and toast it until pearly for 1–2 minutes, stirring. Add the wine and stir until it almost evaporates.
- Cooking. Add a third of the hot stock and stir regularly, adding more as the rice absorbs it. At 10 minutes, add the saffron infusion. In about 16–18 minutes in total, the grain should be al dente and the whole moist enough to be creamy and fluid.
- Finishing with butter. Off the heat, add the cold butter, cheese, zest and a little of the chopped burnt lemon, and stir vigorously to emulsify. Correct the salt: the rice should spread slowly when the plate is moved.
Crisp carrot
- Frying. Cut the carrot lengthwise into very thin slices with a mandoline or peeler and keep them dry. Fry them in small batches in the oil at 160 °C (320 °F), 60–90 seconds, until barely golden and crisp. Drain on paper towels and salt lightly.
Finishing
- Slicing. Take the chorizos out of the sauce, let them rest 2 minutes and cut them into thick medallions of 3–4 cm. Pass them again through the reduced pomarola so all sides are glazed.
The dish
Use wide, hot plates. Put a quarter of the rice in the center and spread it slightly with the back of a spoon. Arrange on top the medallions of one chorizo per person, with a little pomarola around and over them. Finish with the crisp carrot slices, drops of basil oil, a few microgreens and, if you like, flakes of salt, and serve at once. Final look: a yellow, creamy rice, caramelized medallions lacquered in red, the crisp orange of the carrot and green dots of basil.
Key points
- Prick the chorizos only lightly, so they do not lose their juices.
- Reduce the pomarola until thick: it is the base of the glaze.
- Cook the chorizos to 74 °C (165 °F) at the center before slicing.
- Stop the rice al dente and with moisture, and finish it with butter off the heat.
- Fry the carrot at the end, so it arrives crisp.
Pairing
A young Malbec or a Bonarda, with fruit and acidity for the pomarola and the richness of the chorizo. Without alcohol, sparkling water with lemon and a few basil leaves.