Tuesday 24 September 2013

Caramalised onion and saffron risotto, squid with tomato, red wine essence

No photo but I made this last night and was STUNNING.

I caramalised onion with a little sugar and olive oil slowly, so that it was melting.  I then added it to quail stock.  The taste of the stock was gorgeous so a good base to work from.

As the onion was already in the dish, I crushed some garlic in a pan with some olive oil and added the rice to toast (but did this on a low heat as I didn't want the garlic to burn), then did the usual of adding some white wine to add acidity to the end result, cooked it out, then added the stock with the caramalised onion bit by bit in the usual risotto style.

I had some FRESH squid that was I'm sure out of the UAE waters that very morning.  It was a beauty. I sliced it finely and warmed it through with some finely sliced sweet cherry tomatoes and olive oil.

Any juice from the squid I tipped back into the risotto, seasoned with salt and a little cayenne pepper and poured the risotto into heated plates (the key in my opinion to good risotto is the rice must be still ever so slightly firm - personal preference, nice and loose so it's a thick sauce consistency and well seasoned) topped it with the squid tomato mixture and some very finely sliced just cooked asparagus.  No cream, no cheese, no butter.  This was clean and beautifully balanced.  The squid cooked in this manor is simply melting.  Oh final point, just a touch of saffron is suffice.  For two people about 10 threads.  

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