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Recipe · 4 min read

Arroz de Boquerones y Espinacas

Arròs amb Espinacs i Aladrocs

Seco · dry Cooked in Paella AlacantValència

01Geographic & Texture Profile

  • Primary Geographic Zone: The Valencian and Alicante coasts. Alicante calls the fresh anchovy aladroc (Spanish aladroque), and Alicante Plaza lists arròs amb espinacs i aladrocs among the Marina's traditional rices.
  • Liquid & Texture Profile: Seco (dry), cooked in the paella. A caldós home version also exists (see §3).
  • Traditional Cooking Vessel & Fuel: A paella on wood or gas.

02Historical & Cultural Context

A thrifty sea and huerta rice. The two cheapest things a coastal family could buy were a handful of fresh anchovies and a bunch of winter spinach. The anchovies are opened butterfly-style, fried lightly and laid back on top at the end. The fumet can be made from the anchovy heads and bones or, more intensely, from morralla. Valencian home cooking has a whole spinach-rice family: a Universitat de València recipe collection records paella d'espinacs i alls tendres (spinach, young garlic and salt cod) and a caldós of spinach with dried beans and ray (rajada).

Culinary science: spinach collapses to about 10 % of its volume and releases water and oxalates. Sautéing it hard in the same oil used for the anchovies concentrates it and flavours the fat. Anchovy flesh is delicate and oily, so the fillets go on for only the final 2 minutes over raised heat, which steams them on top of the rice.

03Local Town-by-Town Variations

  • Comunitat Valenciana classic (Directo al Paladar): Fresh anchovies + spinach, pepper and tomato sofrito, fumet ≈ 2 × the rice volume, 7 + 7 + 2 min.
  • Alicante (El Español): The "authentic" version is said to use 500 g of morralla and sea water for the broth. ⚠️ Headline only; the article couldn't be verified.
  • Lent / cod variant (València): Paella d'espinacs i alls tendres: spinach + young garlic + salt cod instead of anchovy.
  • Caldós variant (València): Spinach + dried beans or chickpeas + ray (rajada), soupy.
  • Murcia cousin: see arroz con boquerones y pava (anchovies with cauliflower).

04The Master Recipe (4-Person Batch Blueprint)

Variant represented: Comunitat Valenciana paella (scaled from a 3-person recipe).

The Flavor Base (El Fondo)

Ingredient Quantity
Fresh anchovies, butterflied 12
Fresh spinach 150 g
Garlic 1–2 cloves
Tomato, crushed ½
Red/green pepper ½
Pimentón dulce pinch
Saffron pinch
Olive oil 70 ml
Fumet (anchovy heads/bones or morralla) ≈ 2 × rice volume (≈ 0.75–0.8 L)

Assembly Ratios

Element Quantity
Bomba rice 330 g
Fumet ≈ 0.8 L

Step-by-Step Cooking Blueprint

  1. Anchovies: Open them, remove the spine, fry them lightly in the paella and set aside.
  2. Spinach: Sauté it in the same oil until it collapses.
  3. Sofrito: Garlic, tomato and pepper until jammy.
  4. Toast: Add the rice and stir until pearly.
  5. Liquid: Add the fumet, saffron and pimentón and level the rice. 7 min high, then 7 min minimum heat.
  6. Finish: Lay the anchovies on top, raise the heat for ≈ 2 min to dry, then rest 5 min. Optional allioli or lemon.

Lent & vigil rices: Meatless rices of Cuaresma and fast days: legumes, greens and salt cod.

Huerta & artichoke rices: Irrigated-garden vegetables: artichoke, broad beans, chard and peppers lead the dish.