I’ve been wanting to make risotto for the longest time but was basically too lazy. But a friend bought me some fresh truffles so this got me off my lazy ass to whip up some risotto to do the truffles poetic justice.
The Broth
I wanted a nice rich broth to cook my risotto. Here are the ingredients I used to make my broth:
1. I used 3 big chicken carcasses, washed it thoroughly with salt then blanched it to get rid of all blood and other impurities.
2. I wanted to make a seafood and mushroom risotto so I bought 2 flower crabs, chopped it into two and washed it throughly with salt.
3. In a pan , I heated up 2 spoons of olive oil and two spoons of butter. In goes one whole chopped yellow onion and one spoon of chopped garlic and I sautéed these until brown. The flower crabs were then introduced and I flambéed the crab in the oil butter mixture by adding a dash of brandy, then added half a cup of wine.
4. I then added 6 cups of water and transferred all the contents to a large pot bringing it to a simmer.
5. I added one stick of celery and 2 stalks of leek (chopped into 3), one whole fennel roughly chopped and 2 Bay leaves.
6. The chicken bones were then added in and I filled the pot with more water until it was half full.
7. I simmered the contents for about 1.5 hours, adding in water from time to time so that it is always more than half full.
8. After 1.5 hours, I seasoned the broth with salt and pepper to taste and strained the broth completely.
INGREDIENTS FOR THE RISOTTO (cooking for 6 pax)
• 2 cups Aborio rice
• 6 shallots (finely diced)
• 3 tbsp olive oil (extra virgin)
• 2 tbsp butter
• half cup parmesan cheese (shredded)
• one cup white wine
• half pot of the rich broth (freeze any remainder you don’t use )
• 10 prawns de-shelled and de- veined, each prawn cut into 4 and marinated with pepper and salt, 1 teaspoon of sugar, 1 tablespoon of worcester sauce.
. 3 portobello mushrooms cut into small pieces
• 1 tbsp thyme and 1 tbsp of parsley (fresh, chopped)
COOKING INSTRUCTIONS
1. Heat up a large frying pan and add 3 tbsp of the olive oil. Bring up to medium high heat, then add shallots and cook until translucent (about 1-2 minutes).
2. Add the cut prawns and stir through well for another minute or two until the prawns turn orange. Add the mushrooms and continue stirring.
3. Add Arborio rice and mix well.
4. Increase heat to high and add the white wine. Let the rice absorb the wine while the wine cooks off (2-4 minutes). Thereafter, turn down the heat back to med high.
5. Add one to two ladles of the broth which has been heated up before cooking starts. As the rice absorbs the broth, continue adding the broth only one ladle at a time. Stir constantly.
6. Continue ladling, stirring and cooking over medium heat until the rice is almost all the way cooked through. It should be al dente with a firm center (approx 20 min).
7. After 20 Mins when the rice is cooked through, reduce the heat to low. Add butter and stir, then gently stir in the Parmesan cheese reserving some for topping the risotto.
8. Add the chopped herbs and season with pepper and salt to taste.
9. After ladling the cooked risotto onto serving plates, I grated more parmesan cheese over the risotto as well as the shaved truffles given to me (optional).
Surf and Turf
I wanted to have some meat accompanying the risotto dish so I decided to make this surf and turf dish following a recipe I’ve seen somewhere.
So here goes.
1. I used ten large prawns de-shelled and deveined.
2. I wanted to add some robust taste so I marinated these with one tablespoon of turmeric powder, one tablespoon of sugar, 1 teaspoon of Worcester sauce, pepper and salt.
3. In a heated pan, add one tablespoons of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of butter. Pan fry the prawns for about one minute on each side, remove and set aside.
4. The prawns will not be cooked through but I didn’t want to overlook the prawns since it will be pan fried again later.
5. The recipe calls for thin flank steak but I couldn’t find these so I used thinly sliced rib eye which were not ideal as ribeye contains too much fats. Using a layer of cling wrap, flatten the steak and cut into roughly 4 inch by 2 inch rectangles.
6. Put one of the fried prawns onto the steak slices and roll it up like a carpet. Secure the ends with toothpicks and season the rolled steak with pepper and salt.
7. Pan fry the rolled steak pieces in a hot pan with olive oil or butter, about 1- 2 minutes on each side. Remove and serve immediately.
8. For some crisp, I also fried up some frozen white fish, coated with a flour mixture and coated with some bread crumbs. Fry until golden brown and crispy.
THE WOLF AND BULLDOG CHRONICLES 