Recipe

Spicy Squid Ink Risotto (without the plane ticket)

Spicy Squid Ink Risotto (without the plane ticket)

Photo by Naked Beet

  • This recipe was entered in the contest for Your Best Risotto (Savory)
  • Chef

    Naked Beet's Notes: I've never had the privilege to taste Risotto al Nero di Seppie in Veneto, but I don't see why a plane ticket has to stop me from recreating my own Italy on this rainy weekend. I was only...

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Serves 4-6

  1. Heat the stock and keep on a low simmer while you work on the risotto. Warm up the wine before using it, as well.

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  2. Melt the butter and oil in a high sided saucepan. Saute the garlic, onion, tarragon, and red chili flakes until the onions are translucent. Add the rice and toast until all the oil is absorbed and it's turning opaque and glossy. Add the wine, stirring throughout, until it is all absorbed. Stir in the squid ink and cook for about a minute.

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  3. Start adding the warm fish stock, one ladle at a time, letting the rice absorb it until it is almost all gone. Keep adding the stock until the rice has 10 minutes of cooking time left.

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  4. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil. Add garlic and chili flakes and saute for a minute. Add the squid in batches to the pan and cook until you've cooked 3/4 of your squid quantity. Salt the squid as it cooks. (Reserve the rest to cook and serve as a topping). Cook the squid, tossing it gently to cook on both sides for 4-5 minutes and before it is completely done add it to the risotto to cook together with the ink. Continue adding a ladle at a time to the risotto and now start cooking the rest of your squid in the large skillet to be used as the topping.

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  5. If you like your risotto on the brothy side, add some more stock to the rice once the rice is ready to be plated. Stir in the fresh parsley and finish with diced peppers and cooked squid.

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026 Reply

Sounds delicious. In Venice they would use "seppie" which are cuttlefish (another squid like creature) which aren't too hard to find, especially if you are on the east coast. They are broader, fatter, and you clean them the same way.

Picture_11 Reply

I'll have to look for that next time around then, along with the more authentic Vialone nano for this dish, which I've since read can be used with twice the amount of water initially, left to cook without stirring at all and then finished off with some stock for extra creaminess. Thanks for the heads up!

Img_0423 Reply

Looks very delicious! Can't wait to try! =)

Green_apple_card Reply

Hard to resist squid with anything, and this risotto looks and sounds delicious!

Lnd_jen Reply

We get great local calamari from Point Judith here in RI, and it's one of my favorites. This is definitely going on the list :)

Picture_11 Reply

Lucky woman to have fresh catch nearby! ; )

Reply

Yum. Will be making this with my next batch of chicken stock. Thanks.

N501413281_1273671_4870 Reply

gorgeous! love this dish. you are so right, why cant we transport a dish, across the oceans, into our home?

Dsc_0034 Reply

beautiful!

Meat_helmet Reply

This looks great! I have been asking about squid ink at the two grocery stores near me in NYC (Fairway and Citarella) and neither of them ever have it. I was looking to get the actual ink sacs from fresh squid, and apparently most of the squid these days arrives already cleaned, and devoid of ink. I'll have to make a trip down to Chelsea Market, it seems!

Picture_11 Reply

Thanks. I got the squid ink fresh in a very small bottle a while back. I think I got it from NY's Chelsea market. There's an Italian specialty market there with great olives and nice honeys, too. I found the link for it:
http://www.buonitalia.com/default.aspx/act/Catalog.aspx/catalogid/884/description/squid+ink/browse//MenuGroup/Home/desc/Squid+Ink.htm

186003_1004761561_1198459_n Reply

This sound really good. Where did you get the squid ink? Does it come frozen, fresh, canned...?

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