saffron prawn risotto

August 22, 2007

Last night I was in the mood to try a risotto recipe of Gordon Ramsay featured in his book (p. 98) ‘Secrets’. Who would have thought that such recipe by Ramsay is so easy to make that I bet he will not scream at me to get the “f %*@ out of my kitchen” because really, even a kid can make this. Oh wait, that’s not entirely true. A teener can make this *wink*.

saffron shrimp risotto by Gordon Ramsey

serves 4 as a starter, or 2 as light meal

Ingredients

200g risotto rice. I used Arborio
8 pieces of prawns ( I ate the 2 in advance so you only had 6 on the picture)
100 g podded baby broad beans ( I used frozen matured ones, still okay in taste)
about 500ml chicken stock or fish stock ( I used fish stock)
3 tbsp olive oil
1 large or 3 smaller shallots, finely chopped
4 tbsp dry white wine
50 g butter
1 tsp saffron water. (Since I don’t mind eating even the flower, I used dried pieces direct on the rice)
1 tsp finely chopped chives
1 tsp finely chopped chervil (omitted)
2 tbsp freshly grated parmesan cheese
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
parmesan cheese shavings, to serve

Note:Ramsay’s method for preparing the rice was this: Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Add the rice and blanch the grains for 5 minutes, then drain and spread out on a tray. Cover and set aside until ready to cook, or chill if you are several hours ahead of serving.
Instead of doing the above method which I think was meant for restaurant pressed- for - time serving, I rather just simplified it.
-Peel the prawns leaving the tail intact. Either remove the intestinal thread or leave as a whole. Fry in a pan with half of the butter for about 3 minutes, season and set aside.
-Cook the broad beans in boiling water, remove the skin, set aside.
- Heat the oil in a larger pan and saute the shallot for 3 minutes until softened, then stir in the rice. Cook for about 2 minutes stirring frequently. Add wine and reduce right down. Add 1/3 of the stock and stir frequently until all stock is absorbed. Add another 1/3 of the stock stirring frequently. Add the rest of the stock, the saffron and broad beans, continue stirring it gently. Check if the rice is still a bit chalky then add more stock (it’s best to have extra when cooking risotto.) and quickly stir in chives, grated parmesan, salt and pepper to taste. This stage takes around 10 minutes. As you can see, my risotto isn’t really ‘creamy‘ the way I prefer mine. On a bowl place risotto, quickly arrange the prawns on top and scatter with parmesan shavings. Serve immediately.

EetSmakelijk!!

Posted in Gordon Ramsay, seafood, soup or starters