Let’s continue our journey in search of the flavors that have shaped the history of Italian cuisine. Today, we’re focusing on one of the timeless staples of our culinary tradition: seafood risotto. A true evergreen, particularly fitting the holiday season. That said, getting the rice perfectly cooked is no easy task: it’s a real mission. And that’s exactly why we’re revealing all the secrets to make a one-of-a-kind dish: let’s go through this step-by-step guide!
Ingredients
Serves 4
Grab a pen and write down the ingredients:
- 320 g Carnaroli rice;
- 500 g clams;
- 1 kg mussels;
- 500 g cockles
- Great Venus clams;
- 500 g squid;
- 500 g shrimp;
- Chili pepper;
- Celery;
- Carrots;
- Parsley;
- Garlic;
- Scallion
- 90 g white wine
- Extra virgin olive oil, as needed
- Black pepper
Instructions
Once all the ingredients are ready, start with the vegetable broth: this must be homemade. For every liter of water add celery, carrots, one onion and salt to taste. Let it gently simmer.
In the meantime, use this time to clean the seafood. Be sure to discard any clams, Great Venus clams, cockles, or mussels that are already open or cracked, as they could compromise the entire dish. Once all the seafood has been cleaned, move on to the squid. Remove the innards and peel off the skin, then cut them into strips. Then peel the shrimp so they’re ready to use.
Prepare a pan with extra virgin olive oil and a clove of garlic. Let it sizzle for a few seconds and add finely chopped chili and parsley for a truly spectacular soffritto. After a couple of minutes, add the seafood (shrimp and squid) and pour in some white wine to deglaze.
Once the seafood is cooked, take it to a sealed container. In the same pan, add the shellfish to let them open up. As soon as they do, move on to the next step: remove the meat from the shells, leaving a few whole for decoration. Be careful here: do not discard the liquid released by the shellfish, strain it and set it aside on another container (we will use it later to cook the rice).
Place the seafood into a third sealed container and, in the same pan, toast the rice. When it turns golden, pour in a splash of white wine to deglaze again. Once the wine has evaporated, gradually add vegetable broth and the reserved shellfish liquid.
A few minutes before the rice is perfectly cooked, add back the squid, shrimp and shellfish: mix everything well and stir vigorously.
Now it’s time to plate up, using the whole shellfish for decoration. The final step? Pour yourself a nice glass of wine and enjoy this dish to the fullest: your taste buds will thank you.
