RISOTTO WITH SHRIMPS AND SAFFRON
This delightful variant of a recipe that was passed down to me by my grandmother.
In my early teenage years this is one dish that I created on afternoons when coming home from fishing with my uncle. We used pots to catch these delightful, delicious shrimp. You will need a very good white wine, preferably chilled and a glass to measure out each dose accordingly. Before commencing, have a glass to set the mood and then dig in to make this amazing dish.
You will need for 4 people:
500 to 700 grams of freshly caught shrimps
200 grams of 36-month old Parmesan Cheese Grated finely
Good Grade “A” Spanish Saffron or Other Saffron from other nation, the importance is the grade, a pinch will do
500 grams of Carnaroli Rice, this is important as Arboreo Rice tends not to maintain the “Al Dente” very well
100 grams of cream of milk butter
Fresh Parsley chopped finely and only to be added to the Risotto right at the end before serving
Black Pepper Corns, about a tablespoonful to be crushed very finely
A clove of fresh garlic chopped in two three pieces
Now, once you have put all of these ingredients together, you should be ready for your second glass of white wine, please ensure that you keep it in the fridge where it is nice and chilled or in relative Ice Bucket, a few sips and then you are ready to proceed to the next step.
Wash the Shrimps under cold running water, then, in a pan, add a healthy dose of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, a clove of Garlic, as above, and a tablespoon of freshly crushed, with Pestle and Mortar, black pepper. Pan fry the shrimps till pink and ready, usually between 3 to 5 minutes at most, making sure to stir the little gems as you go so that they all cook uniformly. Place them in a large dish to cool before de-shelling them, make sure to preserve every single part of the shrimps, heads and carapace as this will make part of your stock that you will need to make to cook your risotto in. Make sure that you preserve every drop of juice from the frying pan when you add your shells to the pot where you will make the stock, a Rubber Spatula is most indicated for this task.
Boil a kettle, preferably with 3 pints of water at the minimum, and pour them over the shells and heads of the Shrimps that you will have placed in a pot to create your stock, this technique, will thermally shock and destroy any remaining bacteria that may have survived the pan frying process. Bring to the boil, yes, you will have the gas flame on the moment that you place the pot on your gas stove. Once the stock has boiled for several minutes, you will need to sieve it in to a large bowl and bring another kettle to the boil with another 3 pints of water as a backup in case you run out of stock.
In a large pot melt down, gently, the 100 grams of butter until completely dissolved, add the Carnaroli rice, before doing so, and in a sieve, make sure that you wash it thoroughly under fresh running water allowing for all the slurry to wash away, before adding to the pot where you will be stirring it in to your final masterpiece. Toast the Carnaroli rice for about 5 to 8 minutes, allowing for it to go slightly brown then start adding your stock. Be careful at this point as the intense head, you will be using the high setting on your Gas Stove, will cause a lot of steam to rise up, so take a step back when adding the stock.
Start stirring, making sure that you add your stock in stages, and not all at once, the stock will dwindle as you go along and the rice will take it in as you add it. Whilst pottering away with the risotto you should by now be in to your third glass of wine, if not, then something is amiss!!!! Also, cut the shrimps into three parts, the shelled finished result of your efforts of course, and place them in a place ready to be added right at the end with the grated parmesan and parsley.
Remember that seasoning is important, add the salt in stages testing for salinity as you go along, also, your pinch of Saffron, add it a third of the way in to the cooking process, not immediately, allow for the rice to take in most of the stock before placing this expensive essence in to the pot. Once the consistency, the “Al Dente” factor has been reached and your satisfied that you are ready to go, bearing in mind that if you run out of your main stock you can use the water that you boiled in the kettle as a back-up, don’t worry, all of your flavours will be now in the rice so adding clear water will not take away from the end result, only help you finish cooking it.
Add all of the final ingredients, the grated Parmesan, the Parsley, the cut up Shrimps and stir vigorously together until completely amalgamated, then garnish with some parsley leaves and serve with a good white wine of which you will have a second bottle on the chill opened and ready to go. Enjoy!!!
By Peter Capraro