Risotto con Vongole (Risotto with Clams) - a la Sparkly

[Stinky The Clown]

This is Sparkly’s creation. I just helped out here and there. She made Risotto con Vongole. We also had Insalata Caprese and some really nice calamata olive bread with dipping oil.

Here’s the salad stuff: Tomatoes, basil (just the big leaves), fior di latte (mozzarella made from cow’s milk, not the correct water buffalo milk), olive oil, fresh ground pepper, and balsamico. The balsamico is not properly a part of this salad, but we like it. While it stains brown the nice, white cheese, the flavor it adds is worth the aesthetic loss.



Here’s the done salad. We decided to do this because of these tomatoes. They’re Mexican hydroponics and taste really quite good. There’s another whole thread about them.



Here you can see the balsamico stain on the cheese. Small loss, as I see it.



Here’s the risotto mise en place. Roasted peppers, a very ordinary but quite drinkable pinot grigio, clam juice, including the juice from the canned clams, the clam meat (use a large cut clam, not the really small finely chopped kind), the Arborio rice (you could also use carnaroli rice), basil, oregano, and flat leaf parsley, onion, and garlic. The garlic was shaved on a microplane, but it could just as well have been finely diced or run through a garlic press. You want it very fine so it sort of “melts” into the risotto. The onion and the peppers were cut into a medium dice. Use the rough equivalent of a half a pepper.



Put the clam juice in a separate pot and heat to just below a boil. Add some olive oil to the rice pot and get it hot. Add the onions and garlic and sweat it down. Make sure you have enough oil in the pot to later coat every grain of the rice you’ll be adding.



Add 1-1/2 cups of the rice. Stir it well to coat each and every grain. And get used to stirring. From here on out, you absolutely MUST stir constantly. Leaving it even for a few seconds will cause it to catch and burn to the bottom of the pan. DO NOT STOP STIRRING …. EVER



Here the rice has been coated.



Add some wine. Note, if you don’t wish to use wine, you can use all clam juice or a mixture of clam juice and some mild stock like chicken or vegetable. Decide what flavor you want the rice to assume most clearly and add that first. In Sparkly’s case, that was the wine. She added about a half cup to start.



Keep adding liquid a small amount at a time and stir it in. As the rice absorbs the liquid, add more. At this point, she’s adding calm juice, maybe a quarter cup at a time.



We’re now about 15 minutes into the process. Sparkly’s added the herbs and chopped peppers. And more liquid. And she’s been stirring constantly. As in non-stop. Lots and lots of stirring.



At about 20 to 25 minutes into it, check the bite of the rice. You want it to be slightly al dente, not mushy. You also want the “sauce” that’s formed to be creamy, not too thick or pasty. Add more liquid if needed. If adding to allow the rice to cook, you can add what you feel is needed. If you’re adding to thin the “sauce” add it a very little at a time. It is a fine line between too thick and too thin. And keep stirring!



When all is right, season to taste with salt and pepper and turn off the fire. Add a few pats of butter and stir. That’s it! Done. All in all, this took about 25 minutes. Of constant stirring. By the way, did I say you need to stir constantly or the rice will burn? If not, please note that. You need to stir. Constantly!



I made the dipping oil. I pounded some olive oil and rosemary in the ol’ mortar and pestle.



This was added to a bowl with the same chopped herbs in it and more olive oil. I also put some of the shaved garlic in here. Raw. And salt and pepper. Do this as early as you can and allow the flavors to blend.



And here it is … on the table. We drank the same pinot grigio we used to make the risotto. This is a nice, hearty dish. Very wintry and stick to your ribs. The salad was a really nice, summery counterpoint.

[bearfan454]

1. Wow !

Very colorful salad. That meal looks delicious.

[Sparkly]

2. I can't take credit for this

I think there are certain things H2S pretends he can't do just so I'll do them. One is laundry; another is standing over a pot stirring risotto for half an hour. ;)

The thing itself was actually his inspiration -- I just know the mechanics of it. (Why? Because he's always made me do it! See how that works? I'm on to him now...) It was really a great dish, better than it looks. H2S says he was thinking of linguini with clams, except risotto's texture and the long cooking makes it all more interesting. (And way too filling!)

Btw, H2S handles the salt canister. It's such a simple thing but so important to get that salt just right and he never gets it wrong (I often do, in one direction or the other).

[NMDemDist2]

3. hell woman, it's your arm !! take the credit LOL

i picked a heck of a day to do a bean soup LOL

it looks absolutely lovely and just proves the adage "Presentation is everything"

wish I was married to a chef :evilgrin: