Wednesday 4 April 2012

Shrimp risotto (or: you can't freeze mussels)



My shellfish-allergic husband recently got braces and is on a strictly mush-and-soup diet. So...I figured what better time than to cook up a seafood risotto? My daughter has an almost ridiculous obsession with seafood, and I must say, her adventurousness has challenged me to delve into the depths a bit more myself.

I bought a bag of frozen shrimp (sorry! as much as I LOVE fresh ingredients, fresh shrimp are just too expensive!:S) and knew I had a bag of frozen mussels in the freezer.  Okay, for all you seafood culinary know-it-alls, I get it. But a dear friend of mine (who has cooked seafood alot), told me it was okay to freeze fresh mussels. Maybe it is, but it didn't work for me. Although I planned to cook my risotto in a lovely mussel broth, after several minutes with my mussels still remaining stubbornly tight-lipped, I realized they were goners. Resorted to veggie stock....sigh.

Regardless, I must say this dish turned out delightful! My one mistake was that I should have actually made MORE risotto. Still, not sure if it would have been eaten, since once my daughter was finished her first helping she made me pick out as many shrimp as possible for her second!

Here's the recipe...

Shrimp risotto

1 cup large frozen shrimp
2 red chilis (finely sliced)
1 thinly sliced green pepper*
3/4 cup spinach*
Enough seafood or vegetable broth to cook the risotto
1/2-3/4 white wine
saffron
juice of 1/2 lime
seasoning
several tablespoons of butter
1 cup risotto

Melt the butter over medium heat. Saute the chilis and green pepper. Add the risotto and toast slightly. Add the white wine and the saffron threads. Then add the stock slowly until the risotto is fully cooked.

Meanwhile in a separate pan: Fry up the shrimp until about 1/2 done. Then add to risotto when it's halfway cooked.

Once risotto is fully cooked add spinach, seasoning, and juice of 1/2 lime.

Mix till spinach is slightly wilted.

Serve with a wedge of lime. YUM!




1 comment:

  1. Mmmh, sounds good. I just imagine the lovely husband with braces :-) What did he get? Vegetable broth?

    ReplyDelete