Please remember that seafood risotto is not to be confused with risotto alla marinara!
Seafood Risotto must be white or slightly pink, full of abundant, clean, easy-to-eat fish.
Risotto alla marinara, on the other hand, is based on tomatoes, garlic and parsley, with fish sauce added at the end if desired.
Ingredients for 4 persons:
500 g / 17.63 oz mussels (and clams)
2 Shrimps each
100 g / 3.52 oz calamari or squid
100 g / 3.52 oz small octopus or musky octopus
100 g / 3.52 oz cuttlefish
300 g / 10.58 oz rice
2 cloves of garlic
1 glass of tomato sauce
1 glass of white wine
Salt, pepper, parsley, extra virgin olive oil to taste
3 l / 101.44 oz vegetable broth
How to make it:
1. Prepare the seafood
Mussels: Tear off the barbel, scrape well and wash.
Clams (if using): leave in salted water for a few hours, then rinse.
Heat a little oil in a pot with a clove of garlic and pepper, add the mussels and clams, cover with a lid and let them open (a few minutes is enough).
As soon as they open, remove them from the heat. Peel the mussels and strain the water, keeping them submerged to prevent them from drying out.
2. Prepare the other fish
Musky octopus or small octopus: wash, remove the beaks and cut into pieces.
Squid, cuttlefish: clean and cut into strips.
Shrimps: peel and remove the vein by making an incision in the back.
3. Prepare the broth
Boil water in a saucepan for 30 minutes:
1 carrot
1 stalk of celery
½ onion
1 bay leaf
Be careful not to add salt to the broth.
4. Cook the risotto
In the same pan in which you cooked the mussels, heat the oil with half a chopped onion and a crushed clove of garlic.
Add all the fish (except the mussels) and brown for 5 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper (and chili if you like).
Remove the shrimp so they don’t overcook.
Add the rice and toast.
Drizzle with white wine.
Cook the rice by adding the boiling vegetable broth a ladle at a time, as you would for a classic risotto.
Add some of the filtered water from the mussels, but always taste it before adding it all (it can be salty!).
5. Finishing
When the rice is almost cooked (12 minutes for Sant’Andrea rice, 16 minutes for Carnaroli rice – but always taste!
Chopped parsley
Shell the mussels
The shrimps set aside
A drizzle of raw oil
A pinch of fresh pepper
For an elegant touch, set aside some mussels and whole shrimp to garnish the dish.
Enjoy!
i don’t know why but: When the beautiful days come, I feel an urge to eat more fish, maybe because it can be cooked outside. When it’s hot I choose pasta. but when it’s like this In mid-season, I like risotto better. a seafood risotto for two, in this case. But why does the restaurant say, seafood or marinara? What’s the difference? Nice question. So, the seafood risotto can be made white or slightly pink, loaded with fish. The marinara can even be made without fish, just using tomatoes and garlic. Then many add a bit of fish. Show how to clean mussels. You remove the beard and pull it from the thicker side of the mussel. Like this. Then, using a spoon, a small knife, or something similar, you can scrape, or use a scouring pad, or you can use coarse salt in the sink too. Wash them thoroughly in the sink, starting with minimal water and lots of coarse salt. you give them a good wash, and then rinse them well. Or you can have the fish seller wash them for you, who has a special device that does it in just a minute. If you want to do it well, good, the seafood risotto, you need to be tidy. Now, we prepare all the ingredients. and after let’s cook the risotto. Open the mussels. The mussels should be opened separately, first, for a bunch of reasons. You can simply open them as they are, naturally, but if you want them to have some flavor, add a little olive oil. Half a clove of garlic, slightly crushed. A pinch of fine black pepper. A lid, the lid is very important, and turn the heat up high. To cook risotto, you don’t need to do anything fancy like gourmet tricks, like fish stock or shrimp bisque, or whatever cooking base, vegetable broth is enough. Half an onion, a carrot, celery, and a bay leaf, 3 liters of water, boil for half an hour, broth ready. In a minute, the mussels have opened; don’t let them cook too long, okay? We need to shell them, maybe two or three that are nicer and plumper. keep them with the shell if it’s nicely attached. Shell the others. If you have clams, add a handful too. I skipped them because they were too costly. And cover them with their own sauce. Be careful not to throw in the bottom because you never know if there’s some sand, so the last millimeter from the pot, don’t use it. The fisherman’s stew is made with the fish you catch. I went to the store this morning and found: cuttlefish, Tentacles. Guys we’re in Varese, not Mazzara del Vallo, therefore, we must settle for what is available. You should cut the tentacles like this if they are too thick. I choose cuttlefish instead of squid. because they have more flesh and are heartier, but I slice them thinner since they’re too large. The rings are good, the small octopus is good, whatever is available at the market. Shrimp or scampi, or both, depending on what’s available. I found these shrimp, I’ll use these. When you clean shrimp, remember to remove the little vein. or you’ll get sand in your mouth. You do this with a light incision on the back. or by using a toothpick. I prefer to do it this way when there’s no shell. See? This part needs to be taken out. See how visible this is? This part should be taken out. When you make seafood, they need to be cleaned properly. On the plate, you should only put fish that are shell-free, without skins, nothing that will make your hands messy, because you eat it with a fork, not that you eat risotto with your hands. At most, you can add a large shrimp or a big scampi. entire on top. after the risotto, you can eat it. You’ll dirty your hands, but it’s fine, then lick your fingers. The fish is ready, the seafood is ready, soaking in its water, the broth is ready. A quick rinse of the pot, let’s start making the risotto. You don’t use a pan for risotto. you should use pots with a bit of a rim. If so, even better, but I do it here for better visibility. This is the pot I use for mussels. Two splashes of olive oil, no butter. A bit of onion, or you can just use garlic. I use a bit of garlic and a bit of onion. This is a quarter of an onion; the onion will add sweetness. The garlic, slightly crushed, will add flavor. Set to medium heat and lightly sauté the onion, then add all the raw fish. Gabriele, it’s large, but it will reduce by two-thirds. Let it sauté for 3 to 4 minutes on high heat. Gabriele, can I use the the all ready and frozen rice ? Sure, you can use it, but it will be tough. Small pieces then put in the scraps, that stuff there. If you can skip it, it’s best. Season the fish right away with a bit of salt, but not too much, because there’s the mussel broth, which is really tasty. I didn’t salt the broth. A bit of pepper, which will cook for just a moment. They’ve been cooking for a total of 3 minutes. Remove the shrimp, as cooking them for 20 minutes with the rice will make them tough. they will turn hard, dry, and won’t taste good. So take them out now, and we’ll add them later. The other fish take about the same time to cook as the risotto. so keep them in. They’ve released some water, which is fine. Let it dry up. Should we put in some spice? Of course, why not. Do you want it spicy or mild? A bit spicy. That fits perfectly. When the water evaporates, that’s when the risotto develops its good flavor. Let it cook for another minute to absorb the flavor well. and then add the rice. A generous cup of this coffee per person. Gabriele, what rice is this? It’s Sant’Andrea, a rice for risottos, but it’s a bit smaller than Carnaroli. or Arborio, it’s more suitable for fish risotto recipes. Soon everything in the pot will dry up, just hold on for a minute, warm the rice well before adding any liquid. When you notice it starts to stick to the bottom, add a lovely glass of dry white wine to it. Let the wine dry. You will see that the bottom of the pot, which was almost sticking, will come off immediately. If you want it white, leave it like this; if you want it a bit rosé, add a scant tablespoon of concentrate or half a glass of tomato sauce. Begin with the boiling broth, adding one ladle at a time, add another ladle as it dries. Let it boil slowly, even a little less than that. When you see it’s almost dry, add the next ladle. It’s crucial to add one ladle at a time; don’t overwhelm it with broth. Gabriele, can I put in mushrooms? Of course, prepare sautéed porcini and set them aside. and mix them in at the end of cooking. without tomato, but it’s a Surf and Turf dish. I’ll put in peas, the famous peas from the fishermen. Yes, add peas if you want, but they don’t fit the recipe. Many add peas because they buy the frozen fish I talked about earlier, and they toss in peas to bulk it up, but don’t add them, really. After 4 or 5 minutes, remember the mussel water? Here it is. Add it, but don’t add the mussels yet; they go in at the end. Are you tasting it already? Just salt, the fish was lightly salted, the broth lacks salt, while the mussels are quite salty, therefore taste and adjust. if you used Sant’Andrea rice, it takes 12 minutes to cook, Carnaroli will take 17 minutes, so be sure to taste it. take it off the heat while it’s still al dente, somewhat soft. add the mussels, the clams in half shells if you have cooked them, a few mussels with shells. I kept these covered in broth so they wouldn’t dry out. a bit of parsley without overdoing it. a drizzle of raw oil to finish it off. butter and cheese are not needed. important, remember, I repeat, do not overcook it and keep it soft. a posh dish to make a photo that recalls the sea. put in the rice, some stack it, others spread it out, do what you prefer. I don’t like that nonsense of banging the plate to make it look good, squash it all. I enjoy it this way, a little stacked, especially with fish. if you have some nice fish, lay it on top to be seen. add a few mussels for each person, two shrimp per person. and a bit of parsley, just enough for color. it’s not a creamy risotto, so add a little oil at the end. and why not? A bit of fine pepper. The importance of cooking, look. This mussel stays outside the pot resting in its water. This one too. This one is cooked in the rice. See how the darker one is smaller? Check out the shrimp that wasn’t cooked; it looks so beautiful and juicy. Added last. The fisher has come. She is the fisherwoman. Why eat in there? In the bin with the big spoon, This is the best part. But there’s enough for two here. And I’ll help you, don’t worry. But don’t you smell Mazzara del Vallo? I can smell something, but when will you take me to see it? Do you want to go there too? Yes. Begin tasting, come on. At three, One, two, three. It’s a recipe that’s rather simple overall. Be careful when choosing the fish. We had to use what we had. What was there. You need to be careful with the cooking, I showed you how to divide them well, And most importantly, watch the salt, Because the mussel water could deceive you. So stay back and taste at the end if it’s lacking, You add it then. The rest is very easy. If you have questions, put them in the comments, and I will eventually respond to everyone. As always, there are many versions of these recipes here, comment below. your own version too, or tell me if you’d like to see the recipe for the well-known marinara risotto with, and no fish. Thanks to Beatrice, who filmed the whole episode. Join the channel. Leave a like, to catch the next recipes.