The risotto recipe is not as complicated as it might seem at first glance. It is not at all necessary to go to a restaurant, it is quite possible to cook real Italian seafood risotto at home. All you need is to know some of the subtleties of cooking, missing which, the taste of the dish will be completely different.
Main rules:
- For risotto, you need to use a special variety of rice.
- The broth should be hot and pour it in portions.
- The rice needs to be undercooked.
Agree that even a novice cook can handle it!
So, today we offer you a recipe for risotto with seafood. It is best to use arborio or carnaroli rice. Seafood is suitable frozen, in the form of a sea cocktail – a mix of shrimp, mussels, squid, etc. And be sure to add a tomato, it will make the taste of your risotto especially interesting!
Ingredients:
- Arborio rice – 170 g.
- Sea cocktail (frozen) – 300 g.
- Onion – 1 pc.
- Garlic – 1-2 cloves.
- Tomato – 1 pc.
- Salt – to taste.
- Vegetable broth – 500-700 ml.
- Vegetable oil – 2 tbsp. l.
- Dry white wine – 50 ml.
- Butter – 50 g.
How to cook:
1. Defrost the sea cocktail at room temperature. Drain all liquid from the bowl.
2. Melt 20 g of butter in a small frying pan, throw in a whole clove of garlic, crushed with a knife (right in the husk), and fry for 1 minute over low heat – this will aromatize the oil, that is, the garlic will give the oil all its flavor.
3. Throw out the garlic. And put a sea cocktail on the pan. Simmer for 3-4 minutes, until almost all the liquid that comes out of it has evaporated. Salt lightly. Set the pan aside.
4. Peel the onion, chop into cubes. Heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan and sauté the onion in it. Don’t fry too much! The onion should soften, but not burn, otherwise the risotto will be bitter.
5. Add the arborio rice to the skillet. Continue frying everything together for a couple more minutes, until the rice has absorbed all the oil and becomes translucent.
Note that rice for risotto does not need to be washed – the more starch it retains, the better, then the risotto will turn out thick and creamy.
6. Pour dry white wine into the pan. Continue cooking for another minute until all the alcohol has evaporated.
Wine must be dry! Semi-sweet and other varieties are not suitable. If there is no suitable wine, then cook without it, just skip this step.
7. Next, start gradually pouring in the vegetable broth – add it to the pan with rice in portions, one ladle at a time and wait until the rice has absorbed the next portion and only after that pour the next ladle.
Please note that the broth should be hot, so put the pan with it next to the pan, let it warm all the time on low heat.
8. In general, rice for risotto is cooked in 17 minutes. During this time, it should become creamy, but the rice should not fall apart and turn into something shapeless, they should remain intact and be al dente, that is, a little undercooked. Keep sampling! When the risotto is ready, add 30 g of butter to the pan, stir, cover and remove from heat, let stand for a couple of minutes and absorb the aroma of butter.
9. Heat the seafood in a frying pan and add a fresh diced tomato to it.
10. Divide the risotto among bowls, top with seafood and sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper.
Bon appetit!