With its gondolas, canals, amazing restaurants, and unforgettable ambiance, our travels to Venice, Italy in 2018 was incredible. To really experience Venice, we recommend going to an opera or a classical music performance. We were lucky enough to stumble into a Zucchero concert at Piazza San Marco Venezia, after an incredible Seafood Risotto dinner.
Risotto and bigoli pasta, along with seafood are a staple of the Venetian diet. And we love making dishes inspired by our travels. Enjoy our version of Seafood Risotto with a little Modern Masala twist. 😉
Serves 4.
4 cups seafood stock (or vegetable stock)
1 lb defrosted seafood medley mix
1 tsp to 1 tbsp Modern Masala’s Himalayan Salt and Fancy Pepper
1 tsp Modern Masala's Curry Powder (optional, for a slightly different version)
2 tbsp Olive oil
2 tbsp Butter 1 small onion, finely chopped 1 celery stalk, finely chopped 3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 red chilli, chopped (optional)
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup heavy cream 1½ cups Arborio rice 2 ripe tomatoes, chopped A handful of parsley, chopped
Heat the stock in a pot and keep hot throughout cooking.
In a separate pot, heat 1 tbsp olive oil, and quickly fry off the seafood in batches for a minute or so, taking them out as soon as they turn opaque (you want to make sure that you only just cook the seafood as it will continue to cook when it is added to the risotto). Set them aside.
In the same pot, add 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp butter, then add the onions, celery, garlic and chili, and fry on a medium heat for about 15 minutes until the vegetables have softened. Turn the heat up and add the rice, stirring until all the rice is coated with the oil. (If you are making a Curried version, add the Curry Powder at this time.) Add the wine and keep stirring to cook out the alcohol.
Once the wine has cooked into the rice, add your first ladle of hot stock and a teaspoon of Himalayan Salt and Fancy Pepper. Turn down the heat to a simmer, and keep adding ladles of stock, stirring the creamy starch out of the rice. Allow each ladleful to be absorbed before adding the next.
Carry on adding stock until the rice is soft but with a slight bite. After you run out of stock add the heavy cream. If you run out of stock before the rice is cooked, use boiling water. (You don't want the rice to be completely cooked / soft before you add the other ingredients because when you take it off the heat, the risotto will continue to cook) Adjust the salt (Himalayan Salt and Fancy Pepper) at this time, depending on how much sodium your stock/broth had and what your preference is, you may need to add more.
Remove from the heat and add the remainder butter, the chopped tomatoes, parsley and seafood, and stir through. Place the lid on the pot and let it sit for a couple of minutes to help the tomatoes cook and the liquids come together. You might want to add a little more liquid if the rice absorbs it all.
Serve and enjoy immediately... Boun Appetito!
Chef Punita
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