Lobster Risotto

I've been neglecting my blog again but I hope this is the last time I do so. I've got all sorts of yummy recipes and pictures just waiting for me to post them. So baby, I'm back! And with style.

Usually when I have a Friday off, Jim and I take advantage of it by planning to meeting in DC for dinner. But yesterday we decided to have a nice dinner at home. I had all day to prepare it so I didn't feel rushed and wanted to do something I normally wouldn't do on a average work night.

A while ago I bought some frozen lobster stock and wanted to use it in the meal somehow. A soup first came to mind but what won out was a risotto made with it rather than the usual chicken stock. And why not make it totally indulgent and add some lobster claws and morel mushrooms? A quick trip to Slavin and Sons for the lobster and I knew somewhere in the pantry I had a bag of dried morels.

But I wanted a veg to go with it. That's when I remembered that I had the mother of all yellow squash in the fridge. Last week the Egg Man* stopped by and tossed this baby in with my order 'just because'. I'd been scratching my head over what to do with the mutant beast and then it came to me......fried it up like a you would a green tomato. A little cornmeal, salt and pepper to coat and a quick fry in the skillet. Yum!
*This is actually a new Egg Man, the former one I wrote about a couple of years ago passed this past November.

Jim came home a few minutes earlier than planned which worked out great as I was in the midst of cooking the risotto and had no free hands to cook the squash. He jumped into action and the meal came together beautifully. I tossed some of the small bits of lobster meat into each serving and placed a whole piece of claw meat on top, plated up the fried yellow squash and put it all on the table. Add a nice bottle of Aria Cava and dinner was ready.
And it was Dee-lish-us! I'll post the recipe for the risotto tomorrow.

Risotto

I have only two words for the dinner I fixed tonight. Oh……..My………

Still feeling confident about my cooking skills after going to Galileo for a cooking class, I’ve been on a kick to make risotto lately. Something about that rich, creamy texture of risotto was speaking to me, loudly.

On a trip to Trader Joe’s this past weekend, I bought a box of Arborio rice. At least now I had it in the house to have on hand when I finally got around satisfying my craving.

We had about 10 scallops in the freezer (left over from our last trip to Wegman’s…..Fresh dry sea scallops, $9.99/pound…….If you have a Wegman’s near you go get some, they’re so good!) and some frozen tiger shrimp from Traders. They would be lovely with my risotto so I did a search online and found a recipe that I used as my base for tonight’s dinner.

It took longer than I thought to make the risottos but it was so worth it. And might I just brag on myself because this was the very first time I’ve ever made it…..and it turned out fantastic.

Jim helped out by cooking the shrimp and scallops while I finished up dinners main attraction. And this is what it looked like when we plated it.

The risotto was so smooth and creamy and a touch of black truffle oil at the end really made this dish stand out as one of the best things to come out of my kitchen in some time. This recipe will definitely be made again.

I hope to get something on here soon about the food we cooked over the past two weeks as well as my cooking class. Hopefully on Sunday if we’re not totally wiped from a big wedding we’re going to in Philly tomorrow.

Risotto with Parmesan and Truffle Oil

2 tbsp olive oil
3 1/2 ounces butter
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 cup Arborio rice
8 ounces white wine
1½ quarts of vegetable or chicken stock
3 ounces parmesan cheese, grated
Truffle infused oil

Pour the stock into a saucepan, place it over a high heat and bring it to a boil then reduce it to a simmer.

In a large saucepan place the olive oil and half the butter, cook over moderate heatuntil the butter is melted. Add the onion to the pan and sweat until tender and transparent, add the garlic and saute for a minute longer. Add the rice to the pan and stir with a wooden spoon so that the rice is well coated. Stir in the white wine and simmer until absorbed.

Pour a ladleful of the simmering stock over the rice and stir until it has absorbed the stock, repeat this process until all the stock is absorbed and the rice is tender.

Remove the risotto from the heat and stir in the remaining butter, and the parmesan, and a few drops of the truffle oil. Cover and set aside for a few minutes to let everything absorb. Serve.