Seafood Risotto

By

toutto benne montecatura

Seafood Risotto Recipe

This Risotto is super delicious, done the authentic Italian way: always tomato-based and never dairy based. For best flavour, use fresh tomatoes (go to the Friday Farmers Market on The Terrace, and buy the best organic produce there, straight from the farmers without any middleman), peel and deseed the tomatoes and puree.
The addition of the butter in the end (technique known as mantecatura in Italian cuisine) is necessary for the well known texture of risotto, it is what makes your risotto creamy, so it’s OK indulge a little!

Use home-made seafood broth for making this risotto, it makes all the difference to the flavour. Finally garnish this risotto with assorted seafood (mussels, clams, shrimps, scallops…) then with chopped fresh parsley.

Ingredients

Serves: 4-6
  • 3 Kg clams
  • 2 lobster tails cooked and chopped (optional)
  • 1 Kg shrimps, cleaned and sautéed in olive oil and garlic
  • 500g Mussels, cleaned, de-bearded and steamed until all are opened, discard any that remain closed
  • 3 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 1 medium onion, finely chopped
  • 1/4 cup DS Premium Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil (you can use chili infused olive oil for spicy flavour/optional)
  • 3 tbsp white grape vinegar
  • juice 1 medium lemon
  • 4 tbsp pureed fresh tomato
  • Salt & Black pepper to taste
  • 3 cups  fine carnaroli or arborio rice (medium grain rice)
  • 2 liters seafood / fish broth
  • 75g Butter, diced and kept refrigerated until ready to use

In a large saucepan, slightly heat half the quantity of the olive oil. Add the crushed garlic and saute until softened but not browned. Add the clams and shake the pan to coat and saute for about a minute or 2. Add the vinegar and stir to incorporate. After about a minute or 2 the clams should have opened. Discard any that remained closed. Remove the pan from the heat and remove the clams from the shell (reserving some with the shell on the side for garnish).

In a separate pot, heat the broth together with the tomato puree until the mixture reaches a boil. Reduce the heat and continue to simmer.

Meanwhile in a separate pan, heat the remaining olive oil and saute the onion until translucent and not browned. Add the rice and stir to coat with the oil, add more olive oil if the rice is not well coated. Make sure the rice is warm before adding any liquid to it. Once the rice is warm add the lemon juice and stir to coat. Continue to cook stirring until all the liquid has been absorbed and the rice looks dry.

Start to ladle in the broth, one ladle at a time and cook stirring after each addition until all the liquid had been absorbed. It is necessary for the texture of risotto that all liquid is absorbed before the addition of any more liquid and you must continually stir the mixture. Once absorbed add the next ladleful and so on…

Continue this process for about 15 minutes or until the rice is cooked through. Bear in mind that risotto must be soft with a bite and is never too soft (al dente). Turn down the heat and ad the cooked, shelled clams, diced lobster and stir to mix all. Season to taste and mix.

Remove from the heat and add the cold butter mixing very well and continuously until all the butter is incorporated. Garnish with the remaining clams, mussels and cooked shrimps, then sprinkle with chopped fresh parsley. Serve with lemon wedges on the side.

A risotto is one of the most satisfying foods on the planet. One of the most popular comfort foods and one of the most celebrated components of Italian cuisine. It produces a rice that is absolutely deliciously creamy and lends itself well to endless options, varieties, flavour combinations and even presentations! I adore a plate of rice, and am just ridiculously in love with a plate of risotto. This is a delicious recipe, and another one of my favourites is the Mushroom risotto, a classic that lives on forever. Which risottos are your favourite?

You may also like…