|
1kg cuttlefish
300g (risotto) rice
200g chopped onion
100ml olive oil
3 chopped garlic cloves
Sprig of fresh parsley (finely chopped)
100ml white wine
Bay leaf
500g butter
500g parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper according to taste
Remove the bone from the cuttlefish and clean and rinse the cuttlefish thoroughly under the cold tap. Be careful not to tear the ink sack. Place the ink sack to one side. (If you will not be using the ink sack for a couple of days, place it in a container and add some olive oil to it so that it doesn’t dry out.)
Cut the cuttlefish into squares of 1 cm x 1 cm or into strips. Pour the olive oil into a pan to heat up (being careful not to let it burn) and then add the finely chopped onion. Cook until the onion softens ensuring the colour stays light. When the onion is ready, add the finely chopped garlic and briefly fry on a high heat, being careful not to burn the garlic and make it bitter. Add the cuttlefish strips to the onion and garlic. Cook for about 20 minutes until the cuttlefish softens. Add the white wine, finely chopped parsley, cuttlefish ink, salt, pepper and the bay leaf. To the thus prepared cuttlefish, add a little fish stock or fish soup. (If you don’t have fish stock, you can use vegetable stock or ordinary water with seasoning.) Allow all the ingredients to cook through.
Then add half cooked risotto rice. Add some liquid if required. Risotto must not be allowed to become dry like ordinary cooked rice, it must be more moist. The rice must be soft, but mustn’t be allowed to have totally disintegrated or become gluey. At the end, add the butter and stir in so that the risotto has a lovely glossy sheen to it. Serve and sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese.
This risotto can be made with squid, crustaceans, crab, and other fruits of the sea with the addition of the ink. Today it is possible to buy from shops pre-prepared squid or cuttlefish ink to simplify the preparation of this dish.
I hope that you and your guests will enjoy this delicacy.
|
