There is almost nothing better than sitting down for a exceptional dinner and be served a huge helping of seafood risotto. This Italian staple can be made with a number of flavors and its smooth creaminess hardly ever fails to impress. The intriguing thing about risotto is that it was never intended to be this delightful, the entire dish was designed to be a joke.
Rice was introduced to Italy and Spain by the Arabs in the 14th century and it was observed that the environment was great for the growth of the rice. Soon rice became a main staple of the region and there were many amazing dishes that followed.
In 1574 there was a glass craftsman that was creating stained glass for a church that was being built. There was some question as to the components he was using and he was being mocked. As a way to get back at these people for mocking him, he created a rice recipe loaded with saffron, intending to try to make them all sick, instead they all found it very flavorsome and risotto was born.
Later Italian seafood was added and Italian seafood risotto was unveiled to the entire world. Today risotto is cooked with a variety of various types of rice; Arborio, carnaroli, padano, and vialone nano. These are short grain rice that has the high starch content required to create seafood risotto.
To cook a risotto you first sauté the rice with onions, garlic, butter and olive oil, then over a low heat you add white wine to the rice and enable the rice to absorb the liquid. Next very hot seafood stock is added in small amount and the temperature is increased. Risotto should be continually stirred at this point in order to release all the starch from the rice, once a creamy consistency is reached, the risotto is taken from the heat and cold butter is added in order to enhance the creaminess.
For various other forms of risotto grated cheese would be added, but in Italian cooking seafood and cheese are never mixed, so for risotto you add no cheese. Your risotto needs to be consumed while it is hot because as it cools the starch causes it to clump together. You also should cook your seafood risotto until it is just liquid enough to distribute out on a plate, but is has no extra liquid.
Whether you make a decision to cook your own risotto or head out to your treasured dinner experience there is nothing that can touch the taste of the perfect risotto. The creamy rice and appetizing flavor is always the perfect beginning to the fantastic meal.
Seafood risotto is considered one of the basics of Italian cooking, but do not wait to try other tastes, you know that a risotto is going to make your pallet happy.
Rodney is a seafood risotto enthusiast who has always loved talking about it. Take a look at my blog about Seafood Risotto for wonderful seafood risotto recipes.
