Seafood Risotto

An elegant first course of fish that brings to the table a breath of sea breeze.

INGREDIENTS FOR RISOTTO
– Shallot 50 g
– Carnaroli Rice 320 g
– Extra virgin olive oil 40 g
– Tomato concentrate 1 Teaspoon
– Dry white wine 60 g

FOR THE CONDIMENT OF MUSSELS AND CLAMS
– Mussels 500 g
– Clams 500 g
– Extra virgin olive oil 30 g
– Garlic 1 clove
– Dry white wine 60 g

FOR THE CONDIMENT OF SQUIDS AND PRAWNS
– Squids 500 g
– Prawns 200 g
– Extra virgin olive oil 30 g
– Fine salt 1 pinch
– Black pepper 1 pinch

FOR COOK UNTIL CREAMY AND DRESS RISOTTO
– Extra virgin olive oil 1 tablespoon
– Chopped parsley q.b.

Prep time: 55 mins – Level: Easy – Doses: 4 serving

PREPARATION
To prepare the seafood risotto, start by dedicating yourself to the cleaning of clams. After you have checked them visually to eliminate open or broken ones, you will have to clean the healthy clams: to do this, first beat each clam on a chopping board, to release any sand from the shell, then put the clams to soak in cold water to which you will add a nice fist of coarse salt. In doing so you will recreate an environment similar to sea water, and the clams will be cleaned easily. Keep them for about 2 hours, changing the water whenever sand is deposited on the bottom.
At the end of the procedure, the water must remain clean.

Dedicate yourself now to cleaning the mussels: select the mussels intact and closed, rinse them under running water and remove any incrustations with the help of a small knife. With steel wool scratch the shells to eliminate further impurities. Then tear off the byssus with decision (the beard that comes out of the valves) from each mussel.

Now that your shellfish is clean, heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the garlic to make it tasty. Pour mussels and clams into a casserole dish and blend with white wine. As soon as it has evaporated, cover with the lid and let all the shells hatch, by steam action: at that point the shellfish will be ready.

Place a colander on a large bowl, and drain the mussels and clams. In this way you will collect all the cooking water that you will keep warm and you will use to cook risotto and to cook prawn and squid. In total you will need about 1 liter of liquid for cooking risotto and 50 ml to cook the squid: if the molluscs had not released enough liquid, you can stretch it with water to reach this quantity. Keep some mussels aside and some clams with the shell that you will use to decorate the plate, and shelled all the others.

Then dedicate yourself to cleaning the squid: rinse them under running water. Remove the tentacles, so look for the transparent cartilage pen which is in the mantle and gently pull it out. Rinse again under running water and extract the innards, that are to be thrown away. Then move on to remove the outer skin: cut the final part of the coat with a knife just enough to take a flap of the skin and completely pull the lining away helping you with a small knife. Finally remove the eyes and the tooth of your squid. Now that they are clean, cut the squids into strips not too thin. It still remains to take care of the prawn cleaning: first of all shell them, then incise the back with a small knife and extract the intestine.

It’s time for cooking: heat a little oil in a large non-stick frying pan and pour the clean squid and prawn. Season with salt and pepper, cover with about 50 ml of the cooking liquid of the molluscs that you had kept aside and cook for a few minutes on a high flame. Keep aside.

You have come to the preparation of risotto: chop the shallot finely and place it in a saucepan over low heat together with 40 g of oil to brown it. When it is golden, add the rice. Let it toast for a couple of minutes, stirring often. Then blend with white wine and when it will be completely evaporated begin to gradually wet the rice with the remaining cooking water of mussels and clams that you kept warm. After adding the first liquid flow, add the tomato paste and mix well. Add another boiling liquid little by little, until the rice is cooked: the time will depend on the variety used, but it will take about 15-20 minutes in total. In the last minutes of cooking rice add the squid and prawn with their cooking base and shelled molluscs. Finish cooking, and stir in a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and season with chopped parsley. Serve the seafood risotto very hot, garnish each dish with some mussels and whole clam that you had kept aside.