This recipe is an attempt to reproduce a delicious shrimp risotto eaten in a fake Italian restaurant in Durham, NC (USA). North Carolina is famous for its shrimp. However, with a few variations, the recipe can be adapted to make any kind of risotto (see “Variations” below).
Necessary (3-4 people)
0.75 onions
2-3 spring onions
8 fistfuls of rice SEE NOTE BELOW!
butter
lots of stock (fish stock, possibly, because you’ll have shrimp cook in it)
white wine
salt, pepper
a bunch of shrimp (how much do you want to eat?)
“pancetta” bacon, or lacking that, just bacon
Which rice?
It has to be a rice with fat grains that are full of starch. That’s how risotto gets creamy. Use Basmati and you’ll fail miserably. Sushi rice works fine for me. Ideally, Carnaroli rice from Italy is the one. But it’s expensive like gold.
Risotto
Fry the bacon in butter (YEAH! you’ll be using little butter and little pancetta, so the total amount of fat is not huge after all; enough to fry what comes next). Soon enough, add the onion. When the onion becomes golden, add the rice dry and let it toast for 5 minutes. It takes courage, but trust me, you’ll be OK. Note that rice doesn’t burn, but onion and bacon do, so keep mixing it. When the first rice grains start becoming black, it’s time to add liquids. First add the wine, then add the stock, ladle after ladle. Rice must always be wet but never floating around. Add just enough.
Shrimp
Sauteé the shrimp in a pan with a mix of oil and butter. Make sure they get ready when the risotto is! If they are pre-cooked and thawed, you’ll just need 2 minutes. If you have fresh shrimp, you’ll have to see for yourself when it’s cooked (the meat is white all the way through). In doubt, better one minute too long than one minute too short. While cooking, season with wine, salt and pepper. Add to the risotto and mix.
Garnish with cut up spring onions and serve. Since it’s a fish dish, you shouldn’t add parmesan, but it’s your call.
Variations
Usually risotto is cooked with a “topping” (mushrooms, sausage, mixed seafood, octopus, arugula, even strawberries), and typically these are cooked in the same pan with the rice. E.g., for a sausage risotto, you’d add the sausage to the initial mix and throw in the rice only after the sausage is cooked. In the recipe above, the reason for cooking the shrimp on the side is that it releases a lot of water. The stock should always be matched with the topping. So don’t use beef broth for strawberry risotto. Also, the color of the stock matters. To have a perfectly white risotto you could use a mix of light chicken broth and white wine (“champagne risotto”); or, if you are OK with that, pure MSG stock. Crystal MSG (or Mono Sodium Glutammate) is sold in every respectable Asian market. To have a yellow risotto you should add saffron, but pay attention: use the red dust collected from the pistil which is sold in tiny yellow bags; do not use the whole flowers or you’ll make a mess.
