Risotto Con Scampi

One of the secrets for a good risotto is to coat the rice well with the oil or butter, (and the onions) at the very beginning of the cooking, before you put any liquid. Another is to ladle into the rice only hot (almost boiling broth). Another is to pour more broth only when the cooking rice is almost dry. Let me know whether you like this!

Ingredients for 3-4 people:

• 2 tbsp. Canola or other vegetable oil

• 1 tbsp. olive oil

• 1 small to medium onion, finely chopped

• ¾ to 1 lb. of medium large raw shrimp, shelled and washed

• 5 – 6 cups of fish, chicken or vegetarian broth (I use a combination of fish and vegetarian). The broth needs to be tasty enough to flavor the rice and the shrimp.

• 1 ¾ to 2 cups of Arborio rice

• 1 tsp. anise seeds

• 1 carrot, cleaned and finely chopped

• ½ cup of crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce

Heat the oil, preferably in a terracotta pot. Cook the chopped onion until golden in medium heat. Pour in the rice and mix well, or until the rice is well coated with the oil and the onion. Pour a couple of ladles of hot broth and mix well. Throughout the cooking of the rice you will need to pour a couple of ladles of hot broth every 2-3 minutes. Don’t worry about mixing too much as Arborio rice is tough and wants to be mixed a lot. After 3-5 minutes of cooking, put in the anise seeds and mix well. After 4-5 more minutes mix in the chopped carrot. After 5 more minutes, mix in the tomato mixture. When the rice is very ‘al dente’, mix in the shelled and washed shrimp and delicately mix until cooked. Usually, it should take you no longer than 20 – 25 minutes to cook the rice and the shrimp. Taste the rice and put some salt if needed. Serve ‘piping hot.’ Rick likes it with lots of fresh pepper.

Buon appetito!