Before we make an inky risotto and drink some wine for a mercurial March, Chicago day, let’s take a little spring break trip to Playa de Vega on the Cantabrian sea (the southern part of the Bay of Biscay in Northern Spain).
The water is 55 degrees, and the air may be 70 or so, so we could get wet suits and go surfing. We could take a walk along the water, or maybe roller skate on the coastal road. The goal is to work up an appetite for lunch at Güeyu Mar, a restaurant one hundred meters from the sea.
Opened in 2007, Güeyu Mar is known as a temple to fish and shellfish. The seafood is tenderly touched under a wood fired grill by chef Abel Álvarez. We can sit at a table on the patio under an umbrella, next to the red snapper made out of plaster protruding from the restaurant’s stone façade. We can drink some sherry and Asturian natural wine.
A few years ago, Abel embarked on the process of tinning his fish, and has now perfected it. Canning allows him to employ his staff at this small, seasonal restaurant year round. The cannery is right next to the restaurant. All the canned fish is gently cooked over fire and conserved in Arbequina extra virgin olive oil. In Spain and Portugal, it’s often the freshest and finest quality seafood that gets preserved in tins, called conservas.
Abel recommends gently heating the fish before serving. This suggestion, plus a recent night with little fresh food for dinner in the fridge, led me to make a risotto with the squid in our cupboard.
In Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, Marcella Hazan, whose basic risotto recipe I adapted here, expressed disdain for squid ink pasta. For her it seemed like a gimmick - adding color and nothing else to the noodle. I agree it adds color and little else - but color has impact (we wouldn't have called this Rainbow Wines if we thought differently). Plus, in the case of Güeyu Mar, the dark color is the sauce of not just ink but of onion, pepper and fish stock, according to the list of ingredients.
The squid ink sauce makes each grain of rice look more defined - giving the dish more dimension.
« Risotto can be so frustrating, » as Em says. I made bad risotto for a long time. It was always just like pilaf, in that it was thick and clumpy. I wanted it to be smooth and porridge-like, with a pourable consistency. With that in mind I offer:
"general risotto lessons I have learned"
energy :
Risotto presents a very meditative time at the stove for the cook. You must embrace this, or else a foul mood might spoil the food. And because I put wine in the risotto, I am drinking some of the wine while calmly stirring the rice, and reflecting on the day, and considering whatever other thoughts drift into my risotto world.
heat & cook time :
Previously I always cooked the rice al dente (for about a total of 20 minutes) but I think the heat was too high -- or too low, and then cranked too high to compensate. Now I don’t really touch the dial from medium.
I cook the risotto longer, for about 28 minutes total (I know that’s a long time for aficionados, but arborio’s still got bite enough for me).
liquid:
I also think I used too much rice and not enough liquid. I try to pay more attention to the ratio now of 1 cup of rice to 5 cups liquid.
I use more stock than wine, usually adding the stock three times and the wine twice.
onion:
I also use very little onion chopped very finely – only a tablespoon. For a while I was rough chopping at least half an onion, and I think that was also bulking up the texture. I typically don’t use garlic. If using garlic, I grate it and add it later on in the cooking.
butter vs oil :
I don’t cook the onion in olive oil, only butter, about 2-3 tablespoons, salted.
stock vs water :
For fish risotto, I use fish or crab stock if we have it in the freezer (which has been one time, one time in all of history) but, if we don’t, I go with the Hazan idea that water is better for fish risotto anyway. I just make sure to use good tasting water and have it warm on the stove like I would with a stock.
Risotto Calamar de Otro Planeta (Squid Risotto from another planet)
(adapted from Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking)
3 – 4 entrée servings
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon finely chopped yellow onion
1 cup Arborio or Carnaroli rice
4 cups Fish or shellfish broth or Hot water
1 cup White or rosé wine
(if shopping with us, I recommend any of the Italian whites or rosatos)
Chives or parsley to garnish (Nichols farm has stellar spring onion greens rn)
Heat water or fish stock in a saucepan on a burner near a heavy bottomed pan.
Heat pan on medium high for a minute.
Melt butter in pan. Add onion. Cook until the onion is translucent, or a little less is fine, about 3 minutes. Add a pinch of salt.
Add rice. Stir the rice a little. You might want to start a 20 minute timer. Let it ‘toast’ in the pan for about 4 minutes. Turn heat to medium.
Add 1 ⅓ cups broth and stir. Keep stirring until most of the liquid is absorbed. Add a pinch of salt.
Add ½ c wine (it’s good if the wine isn’t freezing cold but it doesn’t have to be heated like the water) and stir a bit.
When most of the wine is absorbed add 1 ⅓ c broth, and repeat process.
When that 20 minute timer goes off, start tasting the rice for doneness. If it’s totally chalky, it needs some more time.
When you add the squid, it’s going to up the liquid, but you don’t want to reduce the ink sauce at all. So you’re going to want the risotto to be a little thicker at this point : about as thick as it can be while still being a somewhat pourable consistency. If you pick up your stirring spoon from the risotto, it should gradually fall off.
If you need to add a little more hot water or broth to achieve this, do so.
Then when the rice is cooked to your taste, turn off the heat. Let rest for a minute, then stir in the squid and its ink sauce. Put in dishes right away, and garnish with some chives or any soft green herb. Chives are very nice for their crunch. You could also drizzle some nice olive oil on top, if you have some that is more bright than bitter.
We also have some great wines that would be nice with the risotto, like these:
-Cub
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