Seafood Risotto

When entertaining guests in your home, a nice elegant dish to consider is risotto.  And if it happens to be a couple that you really like, then you could fill their dish with seafood.  Our friends Bart and Andrea came over, and my husband wanted me to make something nice.  So I decided to use the Carnoroli rice that I found at The Fresh Market.

Usually, Arborio is the more commonly found Italian style rice that is used in cooking risotto for its heavy release of starch content that makes it creamy yet still firm to the bite.  I was glad to find the Carnaroli because other foodies online prefer it, and I was easily swayed to agree that it's the superior rice grain for cooking risotto once I used it.

I love Asiago cheese because it is has a taste very similar to Parmigiano - Reggiano, but it costs much less.

 

Ingredients:

2 tbsp butter

1 1/2 cups Carnaroli rice

32 oz. chicken broth, reduced sodium

1/2 cup Asiago cheese, freshly grated

8 oz. bay scallops

1 lb. medium shrimp, peeled & deveined

1 lb. mussels

1 shallot, chopped

1/2 cup dry white wine, such as Sauvignon Blanc

Directions:

1. Start by putting the broth into a small saucepan over medium heat to get it hot.
2. Heat a small Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add the butter, then the shallots, then stir to cook for a couple of minutes. Add the Carnaroli rice and cook an additional two more minutes.
3. Add the wine, allowing the rice to absorb it well.
4. Add a half cup of the hot broth to the rice. Stir until the broth is all absorbed, then continue to add a half cup of broth while stirring and stirring. This will take about 20 minutes.
5. Before you add the last half cup of broth, add the shrimp and scallops.
6. Add the last amount of broth, while continuing to stir everything in the pot.
7. Once the shrimp and scallops look done, add the Asiago. 
8. Cook the mussels separately beforehand, then add those last.
9. Making it as thick or thin as you'd like, feel free to add more broth or water to the consistency you prefer.

Tip:  You can find some easy to cook mussels here.  However, since I made that last package, I've since considered some of the ingredients.  I now use the tomato based version of the mussels because the ingredients are just slightly different to my liking.