Seafood Risotto

To Simmy the Miss Sunshine, with whom I enjoyed many Italian lunches in Hong Kong

I have been buying lots of cookery books since I came here. The reason is simple: if there is one thing that is cheap in the UK, it is books. I often find it too hard to resist: a 600+ pages cookery book costs just 15 quid (with free delivery) on Amazon uk. (In Hong Kong, the very same book can cost you HKD500. No kidding.) To me, a good cookery book has 3 criteria: (i) the recipes have to be do-able in the domestic kitchen; (ii) the recipes have to be clear, reliable and most importantly taste good; and (iii) you can feel the author's passion for food. My latest treasure is Giorgio Locatelli's Made in Italy. I have yet the opportunity to eat in his restaurant, but through his book, I can feel his passion for Italian food. The following is adapted from his prawn risotto recipe. I am sure if you try this, you will fall in love with his food as much as I am too!

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1. Heads and shells from 4 tiger prawns
2. Tentacles from 2 squid
3. 1 medium-sized onion
4. 1 stick of celery
5. 1 spring onion
6. 3 peppercorns
7. 1 bay leaf
8. 1 teaspoon tomato paste
9. 1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
10. 2 cloves of garlic, chopped roughly
11. 1 tablespoon olive oil
12. 75ml white wine
13. 1 litre water
14. 25g butter
15. 1 small onion, finely chopped
16. 200g arborio rice
17. 60ml white wine
18. juice of 1/4 lemon
19. 1 1/2 teaspoon of tomato paste
20. 40g cold butter, diced
21. 4 tiger prawns
22. 2 squid
23. 4 scallops
24. 2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
25. 25g butter
26. Salt and peper to taste
27. Flat leafed parsley to garnish

Method:

• Remove the heads and shells of the prawns. De-vein them. Reserve the heads and shells to make the stock.
• Remove the tenacles from the squid and remove the membrane inside the tube. Reserve the tenacles for stock. Cut the tube to rings.
• Roughly chop all the vegetables (items 3-5) and the garlic (item 10).
• Soak the roughly chopped garlic (item 10) into 1 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil (item 9) in a small bowl for at least 20 minutes.
• To make the stock, heat 1 tablespoon of oil (item 11) in a pan. Take the chopped garlic out of the olive oil and add to the pan. Reserve the garlic oil. Add all the vegetables, peppercorns and the bayleaf (items 3-7) into the pan. Cook for about 1 minute, take care not to allow them to colour. Then add in the prawn heads and shells and squid tentacles. Use a wooden spoon to crush them to release the juices.
• Cook for 1 minute and add the white wine (item 13). Let it cook for about 3 minutes to evaporate.
• Add the tomato paste (item 8) and 1 litre of water (item 14). Bring it to the boil and the turn down the heat to simmer for 15 minutes.
• Strain the stock and place it in a clean pan and have it simmer (using the lowest heat) while you are making the risotto.
• To make the risotto, melt the butter (item 14) in a heavy based pan and add the onion (item 15). Cook gently until the onion is softened but not coloured.
• Add the rice (item 16) and stir around to coat in the butter and toast the grains until they are warm.
• Add in the white wine (item 17) and let it evaporate completely.
• Start adding the first ladle of stock (for the first ladle, also add the tomato paste (item 19)) to the rice. Use a wooden spoon to stir and scrape the bottom of the pan as you do so. When each ladleful of stock has almost evaporated, add the next ladleful. Keep stirring from time to time. The rice should be cooked in about 14 minutes (starting from the time you add the first ladleful of stock). Note: you may not need to add all the stock in.
• In the meantime, cook the seafood (items 21-23) with butter and garlic (items 24-25) in another pan. Season to taste.
• When the rice is al dente, add the garlic oil (item 9) and juice of 1/4 lemon (item 18) to the risotto. Season to taste.
• Stir in the cooked seafood.
• Take off the heat and let the risotto rest for a minute.
• Then, for the final step, add in cold cubes of butter (item 20) to the risotto and use a wooden spoon to beat vigorously. Check the consistency of the risotto: it should be creamy and rich. If the risotto is too firm, beat in more hot stock.
• Garnish with chopped parsley and serve.