Prawn, sweet cicely and tomato risotto

4 servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
550 grams Head-on raw prawns in their shells or
; 500g/1lb 2oz headless raw prawns in
; their shells
1¼ litre Vegetable or chicken stock
85 grams Unsalted butter
2 Shallots; chopped
2 Garlic cloves; chopped
300 grams Risotto rice eg vialone nano; arborio or carnaroli
1 small Spri rosemary; 4 cm long
1 Bay leaf
250 grams Ripe tomatoes; skinned, deseeded
; and chopped
1 Generous glass dry white wine about 200
; ml
2 tablespoons Chopped parsley
3 tablespoons Chopped sweet cicely
30 grams Parmesan cheese; freshly grated
Salt and pepper

Directions

1 Peel the prawns, keeping the flesh. Heat 15g/ 1/2oz butter in a pan big enough for the stock with room to spare.

2 When foaming, add the prawn shells and heads and stir about until they turn a pretty shellfish pink. Add the stock and 600ml/1 pint water and boil. Simmer for 30 minutes to draw out the prawn flavour and strain.

3 For the Prawns: If you can see a black line running down their backs, make a slit with the tip of a sharp knife down the back and remove the fine black gut from just below the surface. If they are tiger, king or a type of large prawn, halve or third each one.

4 Boil the stock again if necessary and reduce the heat to a thread so it stays hot and does not boil away. Melt 45g/1 1/2oz remaining butter in a wide pan.

5 Fry the shallots and garlic very gently in the butter until translucent, without browning. Add the rosemary, rice and bay leaf to the pan and stir round for about a minute until the rice becomes translucent.

6 Add the tomatoes, parsley and wine. Season with salt and plenty of pepper, and bring to a bare simmer. Stir the rice mix continuously until all the liquid has been absorbed. Add a generous ladleful of stock, and stir until all that has been absorbed too.

7 Repeat until the rice is tender but with a slight firmness to it, though definitely not chalky. The consistency should be verging on soupy, as it still has a couple of minutes to go.

8 The time taken for the liquid to be absorbed and the rice to be cooked should be about 20-25 minutes.

9 Finally stir in the prawns and the sweet cicely and cook, stirring for another 2-3 minutes, until the prawns have turned pink. Stir in the remaining butter and Parmesan, taste and adjust the seasoning, and then serve.

Converted by MC_Buster.

Recipe by: Sophie Grigson

Converted by MM_Buster v2.0l.

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