A lot of people get scared off at the thought of cooking a risotto, but it really isn’t all that difficult, just takes a little bit of practice.
Unfortunately when cooking a risotto there are no set quantities or ratios of water to rice or cooking times and temperatures. Different types of risotto rice from different parts of Italy all have different “absorption” rates, so the key to cracking the risotto code is to keep testing the rice as you cook until it tastes “al dente” just like pasta. You want it to be cooked but have just that little bit of bite to it.
You also have to keep stirring the rice constantly, so this is not the sort of dish to put on the stove and leave to simmer.
This is a fantastic seafood risotto recipe with a real tomato kick inspired by the dish I had at
Ventunos earlier in the year.
The combination of a homemade seafood stock with some tomato passata yields great results.
Seafood
8 large uncooked green prawns. Heads removed, peeled, deveined and butterflied
2 balmain or morton bay bugs. Ask your fishmonger to cut them in half for you
1 small fish fillet (skinless and boneless) – I like to use a tiger flathead fillet or a small piece of barramundi.
For the Stock
800ml Water
1 carrot, roughly chopped
1 small onion, peeled and roughly chopped
1 celery stick, roughly chopped
½ bulb of fennel, fronds removed and roughly chopped
1 roma tomatoe, quartered
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon olive oil
For the Risotto
butter
olive oil
½ onion, finley diced
1/4 bulb fennel, fronds removed and finely diced
1 garlic clove
1 celery stick
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
a small pinch chilli flakes
200g risotto rice such as aborio
2 tablespoons tomato paste
125ml white wine
200ml tomato passata / tomato puree
6 cherry truss tomatoes, roasted
pinch of saffron – soaked in 2 tablespoons of water
½ lemon
Basil Leaves
To make the Stock
- Peel and devein prawns. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large saucepan or stockpot over medium high heat and add prawn heads. Cook 2-3 minutes, crushing the shells with the wooden spoon. Don’t worry about the black gunk oozing out of the prawn heads, it may look gross but adds to the flavour of the stock.
- Remove the meat from the bugs and set aside - throw the shells in the stock pot.
- Add the onion, carrot, celery and bay leaf and stir for 2 minutes.
- Add the water. 800ml is a rough guide but make sure you put in just enough to cover everything in the pot. Squish the tomatoes between your hands and put them in the pot - bring to the boil quickly.
- Skim off any foam and rises to the surface, then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Do not let your stock simmer for too long as it can easily turn bitter.
- Remove from heat and let steep for 10 minutes.
- Drain hot stock through a strainer, pushing down on the shells to extract as much flavour as possible; discard shells and vegetables and place fresh stock into a clean saucepan and put it over a very low heat to keep warm – make sure it does not simmer any more.
To make the Risotto
- Preheat your oven to 180C. Place the cherry truss tomatoes on a baking tray and bake until slightly roasted and skins blistering – about 10 minutes. Set tomatoes aside to cool then cut in half.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil and a small knob of butter (about 15 grams) together over medium high heat in a large heavy based pan. Add prawns and sear each side; remove and set aside. Now add fish fillet and sear 30 seconds each side until just golden, but not cooked through. Remove and keep warm with prawns.
3. Add onion, celery, fennel, fennel seeds, garlic, chilli and safron. Cook very slowly over a low heat for 15 minutes or just until onion has softened. Give it a good stir every couple of minutes.
4. Add rice and stir to coat in the buttery juices. After a minute it will look slightly translucent. Add the tomato paste and stir to combine.
5. Add wine and bring to a boil; simmer to reduce the wine by ¾. It will smell fantastic. Any harsh alcohol flavours will evaporate and leave the rice with a tasty essence.
6. Once the wine has cooked into the rice, add the tomato passata. Turn down the heat and simmer, stirring constantly until most of the tomato juice has been absorbed by the rice.
7. Now add your first ladle of hot stock and a good pinch of salt. Keep the heat at a simmer so the rice doesn’t cook too quickly on the outside.
8. Keep adding ladlefuls of stock, stirring and almost massaging the creamy starch out of the rice, allowing each ladleful to be absorbed before adding the next. This will take around 15 minutes.
9. Taste the rice — is it cooked? Carry on adding stock until the rice is soft but with a slight bite.
10. Once you’re happy the rice is al dente, stir in the cherry tomatoes, prawns and bug meat. Flake fish coarsely and cook a further 5 minutes.
11. If desired, a little bit of stock can be stirred through at the last minute to loosen the risotto a little more.
12. Serve in big bowls, scatter with freshly torn basil leaves and a wedge of lemon.
