As many of you already know, I love cooking in clay.
It’s a passion I share with the most gorgeous Tanya who writes Chica Andaluza. She put me on to Spanish cazuelas, a shallow terracotta dish which can safely be used on a gas hob. I bought mine at Chefs’ Warehouse in Surry Hills, where they retail at very reasonable prices. The brand I buy is Cerámicas Regás which are all lead and cadmium free (I emailed to check).
A cazuela is my dream cooking pot – it imparts a subtle ambiance to every recipe, doubles as a stylish serving dish, and goes straight into the dishwasher after the meal is finished. On top of that, it’s beautiful, and my heart sings a little bit every time I have an excuse to use it.
After a particularly long day last week, I sent Tanya this message…
In return, she gave me this recipe.
Oh, she put it on her blog for the world to read, but I know she actually wrote it just for me, because I have a glut of paella rice and a great fondness for soupy rice dishes. Having spent most of my early childhood breakfasting on Chinese porridge (widely known as jook, but in Hokkien, we refer to it as moy), soft rice in a savoury broth is my ultimate comfort food.
Pete’s not a fan of crustaceans, but Tanya’s recipe is infinitely adaptable, and a great way to use up leftovers. In our case, turkey meat from the previous night’s roast…
As an aside, fresh turkeys are often heavily discounted at Costco immediately after Thanksgiving and Christmas. When our freezer space can manage it, we’ll pick one up ($30 for a 7kg turkey), cut it into quarters, and freeze each section separately for a future meal. We’ve found that a quarter of a turkey ($7.50) is the perfect size to feed all four of us, with leftovers…
The paella broth (Arroz Caldoso) was easy to make – I fried diced onion and garlic in a little oil in the cazuela, then added a tin of chopped tomatoes and a teaspoon of smoky paprika, followed by the paella rice and a few boxes of defrosted chicken stock…
Once the rice was cooked (I’d stirred frequently and added a little boiling water to keep it loose and liquid), I added the shredded cooked turkey, seasoned carefully, garnished with parsley and lemon wedges, then served…
Our young friend Red Roars had popped in to let us know that he’d been accepted into UTS to study for a Bachelor of Science (yaay!). He, Big Boy and I demolished the entire pot of soupy rice for lunch.
Our leftover turkey paella broth (Arroz Caldoso sound so much more romantic) was silky and easy to eat and delicious and oh-so-comforting. I’ll be adapting this brilliant recipe to use up of all sorts of leftovers in the future. Apart from being simple to make, there was only one pot involved, and it went straight into the dishwasher at the end of the meal. Many thanks lovely Tanya!
PS. Roars brought me a gift from the famous Dylan’s Candy Bar during his recent trip to New York. Should I be worried that this is what the 17 year old chose for me?
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Ah Celia – I did write that one for you! I’m thrilled that you made it your own – and wow, what a wonderful dish you made there! We love our soupy, brothy rice – I think we prefer it to Paella (but don’t tell the Spanish family ;) ) and the fact that it can be adapted so many ways. For non meat eaters, a lovely vegetable stock and some perfect tiny asparagus spears or artichoke hearts make a feast fit for a King or Queen :) A big hug from me and Big Man x
See, I *knew* you wrote it for me, T. I’m desperate to make a soupy paella again this weekend – I’d eat it all the time if I could. I’m really happy with the brand of cazuela I can get here and I’ve just had an email back from the manufacturer confirming that they’re all lead and cadmium free (thought I’d best check since I seem to be using them all the time). Many hugs back to you both! xxx
Hey Celia, thanks for sharing this method & recipe (thanks Tanya too :))
It looks & sounds fab…will soon have a go for our own comfort food.
Cheers & love Roni, from Food That Sings & the gorgeous Sunny Coast.
Roni, isn’t it fabulous? I use my cazuelas for everything these days – frijoles, chorizo and even oven baked crumbles! :) Have a glorious weekend in the gorgeous Sunny Coast! x
Between yourself and Tanya my waistline is begging for mercy!
Kim, you of all people should know – you can always adjust a waistline.. ;-)
That looks like a lovely hearty dish, but perhaps a little too hearty for us in Adelaide right now in the summer heat. Where did you get your cazuela, Celia?
Amanda, I’ve amended the post to include that info – thanks. I buy my Regas cazuelas from Chefs’ Warehouse (no surprise there) and they were very reasonably priced (although not sure with the dollar drop what the new stock will cost).
I want one of those dishes! How cool is that, cooker, table, dishwasher – all done. I love this dish too and the fact that you used leftover meat makes me very excited to try it.
M, I’m not sure how well they work on other forms of cookers – I don’t think I’d like to use them on electric and they won’t work on induction – but they’re absolutely brilliant over gas. I heat them up gradually, but they seem to take the heat without any problem. I’m sure Tanya’s recipe would work in a stainless steel saute pan too, but I don’t think that would make me as happy. :)
hot soup in summer? yep..love it..and yours sounds wonderful..x
It must be my Asian genes Jane, but I can have soup on even the hottest of days! :)
Oh Celia . . . if I were you I would be quite flattered by Roar’s gift: he obviously recognizes une Grande Dame :) !!
He’s a treasure! Thanks Eha! :)
Hi Celia, great recipe and loved reading your post. I just posted a paella recipe and so this broth recipe looks so interesting to me! And the cazuela. I need to ask my friend to get me one from Spain! :)
Indu, they’re really fabulous! I hope you get your hands on one soon! :)
Gorgeous pot! And the soupy rice looks delicious, jook is one of my cravings when I am sick. Wonderful post.
Liz, I love congee/jook/moy! You must have some Asian blood in you – we all crave it when we’re sick too! :)
Tanya is such a sweetie, just like you.
Would you believe I have never cooked a turkey! Shocking I know. Must just be a South African thing I guess. I do see them in the freezers of the supermarket so think its time to buy one.
Have a beautiful weekend Celia.
:-) Mandy xo
Mandy, a frozen one is hard work, unless it comes in pieces, as it’s a huge bird to cook in one go (I’ve never tried!). Sometimes you can buy turkey leg though, which is a great size. Do you get “exotic” meats in your supermarket freezers? I once watched an episode of the Hairy Bikers in Africa and they were cooking with all sorts of interesting meats from the local butcher! :)
I will look out for legs – hopefully I can get hold of some. Would be great to experiment with turkey.
We do get quite a lot of venison in the supermarkets and we also have “Specialist” butchers in our area too. Not sure about all the other provinces though. xo
I love soupy rice too, and the paella style is a great idea! What a great way to use up your leftovers, trust you to always make them delicious :) xo
Thanks darling – it’s such a nice variation on jook! I’m sure you’d love it! :)
This looks delicious! I always love coming up with great ways to use leftovers, though I find with three (even young) boys I don’t always have the leftovers I anticipate. I love that glass too!
Gretchen, I used to joke when the boys were little that we didn’t need to save money for school fees, we needed to put it away just to pay for FOOD. Our two ate like wolves – I can’t imagine how much food three would put away! :)
Wolves, that about describes my hungry boys eating too! Just yesterday Jack was up at about five in the morning getting a snack because he was hungry!
Gets even worse when they get seriously into sport. Then they’re perpetually starving! :)
I love this story, the dish is beautiful too. I’ve not heard of this soupy style rice before but since we adore paella, I suspect we’d love it too. I also love that a cooking vessel can make you happy.
Last summer, I came up with an incredible way to use up leftover paella, your post reminded me to create a post about it.
Thanks Eva! Tanya’s blog is full of gorgeous tales about her adventures in Spain and the UK and I love that she’s always coming up with new ways for me to cook in my cazuelas! :) We never have leftover paella here – on the contrary, there never seems to be enough! :)
What do you think about baking bread in clay dishes?
Elaine, I haven’t tried in these ones, but I have baked in Romertopf loaf tins and pots. They’re a bit different, because they have to go into a cold oven, so you end up with a much softer, closed crumb loaf, but the bread is always delicious. I wrote more on it here:
https://figjamandlimecordial.com/2012/06/23/romertopf-white-sourdough-loaf/
https://figjamandlimecordial.com/2014/05/22/more-bread-experiments-and-romertopf-sourdoughs/
Excellent, thank you xx
Yes to all of this. Anything that has even the slightest mention of paella is something I’m bound to like.
It’s much easier to make than paella too! :)
That picture of the paella broth looks like you were about to tuck into it in a restaurant! It does look like a very comforting bowl of food. I’d love to have been been a fly on the wall during that lunch I bet all the boys friends love popping around to see them.
Nancy, it’s so easy to make too. We had it again for dinner tonight – started at 6pm, everyone eating by 7pm! :)
I love the look of that cooking dish, the rice, the turkey …AND the poem written on your glass is by Ogden Nash – one of my favorite fun poets!
Thanks Heidi, I always thought it was by Roald Dahl from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! :)
We went out for breaky a couple of weeks ago and I had spanish eggs which were served in a black cazuela. I was really impressed and came home checked out where I might be able to obtain some. Thanks for the link. Synchronicity! Mmmm, just checked it out and they don’t do online or have a catalogue. Shame.
Maree, I’m sure you’ll find some in Vic, but if not, maybe you need to pay a visit to Sydney! :) Chefs’ is mainly wholesale. I’ve found the Emile Henry Flameware work brilliantly over a gas hob as well – I used the base of their tagines in much the same way as my cazuelas!
That is such a beautiful dish & I love how you can just pop it in the dishwasher for cleaning. Now this is great comfort food – looks easy to make, perfect for our weather right now, and excellent that it can all be done in one dish right on the stove. I’ve been curious – is “hob” the top of your stove? Sort of like what we call a cooktop. And is it always gas?
Perfect gift from Dylan’s – no worries at all there, just a thoughtful kind of guy.
Di, yes, the “hob” is the cooktop. And it can be gas, or electric, or induction – it’s where we fry our eggs. Ours are always gas – I don’t think I could manage to cook on anything else anymore! :)
[…] caldoso or fideuá caldosa – try them both and let me know what you think! I know Celia from Fig Jam and Lime Cordial enjoys making Arroz Caldoso for her family…Celia, I hope you like this version […]