Andy's Eats: Lobster and Panchetta Risotto

I haven't posted a recipe for a while, have I?

Over at her blog, Suvvygirl canvassed for some decent dinner ideas. I thought that a recipe that was reasonably quick, extremely simple to prepare and tasted f-ing FANTASTIC might be worth a look. She wanted the recipe, so here it is.

Risotto is a great dish to master. Aside from being a tasty little number, you can put literally anything you want in the thing, and it'll end up pretty good. You can make a simple vegetable risotto and have yourself a healthy, wholesome feed, or you can up the ante and pick out a few more exotic ingredients and have something that'll impress anyone. Either way, it is just as easy to make.

There are two main keys to making a good risotto.

First, don't try to cut corners and add the stock too quickly. The idea is to have the rice soak up the stock, without actually boiling the rice in the stock. If you add it too quickly, you'll end up with a gluggy mess.

Secondly, for the entire cooking time you need to make sure that you don't stop stirring the rice- not even for a minute. By doing so, the rice will cook unevenly and instead of a smooth, lava-like mass, you'll just wind up with a gluey, lumpy bowl of crap.

Now, I like to make this one with some pre-cooked lobster meat, but you can substitute literally anything. Crab meat would be great, mussels or firm-fleshed fish fillets would work well, or, if you're on a budget, even that seafood extended stuff would be OK. Take your pick.

Anyway, here it is...

LOBSTER AND PANCHETTA RISOTTO

Ingredients:

1 cup Arborio Rice (Don't... DON'T use any other rice. It won't work.)
4 cups Fish Stock (The pre-made stuff from the supermarket is fine, but stock cubes are NOT.)
1/2 cup White Wine
Pinch of Saffron
100g Panchetta (Proscuitto will do, or even bacon at a push)
300g Lobster meat
Handful of Snow Peas
1 Onion
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Fresh Oregano, Parsley and Basil (Chopped)

Method:

1. Finely slice the panchetta into very thin strips. Finely dice the onion.
2. Pour the stock into a saucepan, and bring to the boil. You will need to keep the stock at the boil throughout the cooking process.
3. In a large saute pan, heat a few tablespoons of oil. There needs to be enough to fry off the onion and panchetta and coat the rice. Don't be skimpy with it.
4. Toss in the onion and panchetta, and fry off until the onion is translucent.
5. Add the rice, and stir it until the rice is coated with the oil. This stops it all sticking to itself.
6. While stirring the rice, add the wine and keep stirring until the wine has been completely absorbed. Throw in the saffron.
7. Add in one ladleful of stock. Keep stiring the rice, making sure that the stock is absorbed evenly. Whenever the rice has absorbed all of the stock, add another ladleful.
8. When you are down to the last couple of ladles of stock, throw in the snow peas and lobster.
9. When you are down to your last ladle of stock, taste for seasoning. The stock is likely to be pretty salty, so be careful with the amount of salt you add. Just before you finish cooking, throw in a handful of oregano, basil and parsley to taste.
10. Serve immediately, and collect your compliments.

And that's it. Maybe 15-20 minutes tops, and you have a tasty, healthy feed that doesn't cost the earth. You could piff in a few peas or some corn kernels or some such if you want to up the vege content, or you could serve it with a nice side salad if you prefer. Do your worst.

Go nuts, Suvvy. Let me know how it goes.