December 1, 2011 Dinner -Seafood Risotto

December 1, 2011 Dinner -Seafood Risotto

Sometimes we research and cook recipes from cookbooks or the internet, but most of the time we simply create recipes with available ingredients or adapt ingredients to known recipes.  The strength of the latter approach is that we can adapt our recipes to our ingredients instead of planning a meal based on a recipe and then going to the store to buy all of the ingredients, which is much easier and comports with our desire to cook spontaneously.  The latter approach requires more care in shopping or a plan for buying ingredients occasionally, but allows me to plan meals as I see fresh ingredients that are less expensive or fresher.

Tonight was an example of the latter.  I went to Pro’s Ranch Market and bought a number of ingredients to replenish the larder.  For example brown onions were 6 lbs. for $1.00, mangos were 3 for $1.00 and avocados were 4 for $1.00, so I bought all of those items without thinking about any recipe in particular, but because they were really cheap.  While at Pro’s I always check the fish department and having just returned from the Pacific coast of Mexico and enjoyed the fabulous seafood there, I bought 1 ½ lb. of medium heads off shrimp, which were on sale for $3.98 lb. and then bought 1/3 lb. of cooked octopus for $4.99 lb. and a jar of fresh oysters for $2.98. 

When Suzette arrived at home and asked what I wanted to eat I said I would like Galician style seafood paella.

Although we have a paella pan, we usually make a simplified form of paella by cooking the rice and then sautéing the fish and other ingredients and then combining them.  The whole process usually takes less than 1 hour and there is no continual adding of ingredients, checking, adding liquid and baking for hours.

Suzette said fine so we went to the kitchen and got out the seafood ingredients and a smoked pork chop.  Suzette asked if we had paella rice and when I looked all I could find was Lundberg arborio rice, which is the kind used to make risotto.  As Suzette peeled the shrimp and chopped the oysters, I chopped ½ cup of onion and two cloves of garlic and then went to the cellar and got a bottle of white Viura wine from Spain. Without asking me, it appears that Suzette had decided to cook the risotto recipe on the back of the bag of rice that called for stock.  Unfortunately we did not have fish stock, but we proceeded to cook the recipe with ½ cup of rice and 4 cups of heated water and ½ cup of white wine.  Suzette sautéed the onion, rice, chopped pork cutlet, and garlic in a large enameled Le Crueset casserole in some olive oil.  Then she added the white wine and some saffron, we had purchased in Zaragoza, Spain. Then we began adding heated water at about the rate of one cup per addition. On the second addition she added the octopus tentacles, which I had halved to relax the sinews.   After the second addition of water the mixture began to turn cloudy and thicken and the rice kernels began to swell up.  While Suzette was doing this, I snapped the threads off about 1 cup of sugar snap peas we had bought at Costco the night before and started to steam them and Suzette asked about bread. I told her I had purchased fresh bolillos at Pro’s Market, which she found in the refrigerator and cut up and put into the toaster. Before adding the third addition of hot water we tasted the rice, which was close to al dente, so we decided to add the third addition and let the risotto cook until it stiffened, because we thought that would allow the risotto to become firmer, less

soupy, and soft enough to eat and the rice more fully swollen.  I know some folks like their risotto al dente but Suzette and I prefer our rice and pasta dishes thoroughly soft, but still firm, not limp. On the third addition of hot water the mixture loosened, so we let it cook until it stiffened again and the rice became more fully swollen and fluffy.  This was risotto though, not paella, so it did not stiffen into a cake like consistency, it was soft and gooey like risotto.  The sugar snap peas were cooked and cooling in the steamer.  I toasted the bread and poured the wine.  Then we plated up the creamy risotto and split the sugar snap peas.  The risotto tasted great.  It was creamy and thick and the rice was fully cooked, yet the textures of the seafood were distinct and different enough to make a nice contrast.  The pork practically disappeared into the sauce, so the sauce had both a slightly smoky taste and a distinctive saffron flavor. Quite pleasant.  The wine was perfect with the dish, almost as if it was made for Spanish paella, light and fruity, without any noticeable citrus or mineral taste.  We loved the dinner, both agreeing that it was the best risotto we had ever had.  I thought the reason why the dish became so creamy was perhaps because the fish shrimp and oysters had been frozen and they gave off more of their internal juices because their internal structure had been weakened a bit by being frozen and more of that liquid was released than if they had been fresh and firm.  We agreed that we were happy to be back home and cooking creatively again with our larger larder of ingredients and with our cookware.  Although we thoroughly enjoyed being in the jungle in Mexico, the holiday rental lacked the many cooking tools and the many herbs and spices and the range of ingredients we usually have available at home.  What fun to make a new dish so successfully on our first night back in the kitchen!

Bon Apètit