Seafood Risotto

Italians love risotto-a hearty, thick rice.  This version includes seafood - some of my favorites!  I made my own seafood stock and included some other goodies to finish off the dish.

Here are the ingredients for the risotto:

Stock:

Shells of shrimp and crab
2 carrots, chopped into large hunks
2 ribs of celery, chopped into large hunks
1 onion, quartered
3 cloves of garlic, smashed
2 lemons, quartered
2 teaspoons fennel seed
2 teaspoons peppercorns
2 teaspoons salt
Handful of parsley sprigs

Other Ingredients:

 2 cups Arborio rice
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup white wine
Pinch of saffron threads
12 large sea scallops
12 large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 pound crab meat
1 cup frozen peas
1 pound mushrooms, sliced
2 shallots, diced fine
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

To begin, steam the crab legs and remove the meat.  Keep the shells for the stock and set the crab meat aside, until you are ready to add it to the risotto.

Take all of the stock ingredients and simmer for 2-3 hours.  If you feel your stock needs some extra zip, you can add dried mushrooms or some chicken base/bouillon. When the stock in done, strain the solids from the liquids.  Keep the liquid and discard the solids.  Put the hot stock back on the stove, on low heat.

In a sauce pan, saute the shallots, mushrooms and peas with a little olive oil and butter (about 1 tablespoon each).

In a large sauce pan, melt the butter and add the olive oil.  Add the rice and let it toast for a few minutes.

While that is toasting, take 1/2 cup of the hot stock and add a pinch of saffron threads to it.  Let that sit until ready to add to the rice.

When the rice has absorbed the olive oil and butter, add the wine, making sure it cooks out, before going on to the next step.

Once the wine has cooked out, add ladle fulls of hot stock, stirring constantly.   As the liquid cooks down, add more.  This process will take 25 minutes, or until the rice is al dente.

In the meantime, take a saute pan and get it really hot.  Pat your scallops dry and season with salt and pepper.  Add a touch of olive oil and add the scallops.  The scallops should sizzle when putting them in the pan.  The scallops should only cook for 2 minutes on each side.  Scallops should still be opaque in the center when finished cooking.

When the scallops are cooked, set aside and saute the shrimp.  The shrimp should only take a few minutes, or until pink.


When your rice is al dente, and most of the liquid has cooked down, add the mushrooms, shallots, peas, crab meat, parsley, Parmesan cheese and cream.  Put a portion on the plate, and add scallops and shrimp on top.

This recipe is labor intensive, but the results are well worth it.  This is a restaurant quality dish- bring it out when you want to impress someone!  This serves 4-6 people.

Mangia!