Source: Cuisine.com.au
Description
This delicious Italian recipe requires patience and a little magic to conjure a creamy, tender risotto from dry grains.
Ingredients
- 1⁄3 cup white wine
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic, sliced
- 25 g butter
- 2 cup risotto rice
- 1⁄5 tsp saffron threads, soaked in a little warm water
- 1⁄2 cup extra white wine
- 1 l light chicken or fish stock
- 1 tbsp chopped parsley
- 1 3⁄4 g extra butter
- 3 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
- 2 lb fresh cultured blue mussels
Instructions
- Rinse fresh blue mussels in tap water.
- Steam the mussels open with a little white wine in a pan covered with a tight-fitting lid. As they open, remove them to a bowl and reserve the liquor. Once cool, remove the mussels from the shells and set aside while the risotto cooks.
- In a heavy-based pot, gently cook the onions and garlic in butter until very soft and pale golden.
- Add the rice and stir until the grains are well coated. Now add the saffron threads and half-cup of wine and cook, stirring until the wine has almost completely bubbled down.
- Add the liquor from the mussels and continue until the rice is almost finished.
- Add the mussels just at the end to warm through.
- Finish with the chopped parsley, butter and parmesan.
Notes
The single most important thing to remember when making a risotto is that it's all about restraint. Gently does it with the heat - a steady ticking over is all that is required. Use small ladlefuls of hot stock and go easy on the flavours - the extra ingredients are there to flavour the rice, not to poke out of the mound in lumpy competition. That goes too for the last-minute addition of the parmesan and butter.
Cook time:
45
