Hay Hay Its Donna Day #8 - Risotto

Does it mean blogging has taken over your life when you ask the lady behind the fish counter for 8 prawns and "could you choose the prettiest ones with nice eyes please?" 

So here is my risotto entry for Hay Hay Its Donna Day hosted by Cenzina  at il cavoletto di bruxelles.

I made one or two tiny alterations to the original  recipe. I made a chicken stock to which I added 1 star anise and a small knob of ginger to the water as I wanted to create an Asian influenced risotto.

I replaced the wine  with Stones  green ginger wine, the lemon with lime, omitted the Parmesan and chives and gently fried the 12 peeled and chopped prawns in the butter. The ginger wine  made it quite sweet and I balanced this by adding more lime juice.

ASIAN INSPIRED RISOTTO

 carnaroli or arborio rice  200g
stock  1litre
Stones green ginger wine 200mls
onion 1,  chopped
limes 2,  rind grated and squeezed
olive oil  4 tblsp
sea salt & cracked black pepper

For the prawns:
prawns about 20 (but it depends on how big they are)
butter 25g, melted
sea salt & cracked black pepper
fresh basil leaves 8

Put the oil in a large saucepan, add the onion and let cook for one minute over medium-high heat, or until the onion is soft.
Add the rice and stir for 1 or 2 minutes until all the grains seem coated with the oil.
At high heat, add the wine and let it evaporate, add then gradually the boiling stock (one cup at a time, add new stock when the preceeding cup has been absorbed). The whole cooking process should take 18 minutes. To be sure, taste the rice at the end, it shouldn’t be hard but definitely not too chewy either (al dente, that is).
At this time take the risotto of the heat, and add 4 tablespoons lime juice, the grated rind,  cooked chopped prawns with the butter they were cooked in, shredded basil,  salt & pepper to taste, stir well and let it rest for a few minutes.

Before starting to cook the risotto you should prepare the prawns: wash them first, cut of their heads and peel body, removing vein down the back of the prawn. Chop into bite size pieces. Melt butter in fry pan  and gently sauté prawns until cooked.   

Decorate the risotto with unpeeled prawns and serve.

P.S. Click on the photo to see their pretty eyes!

 

Comments

[Caroline@Bibliocook]

I've never come across Stone's Ginger Wine, or any other ginger wine, for that matter, outside NZ. Must bring a couple of bottles back to Ireland with me in January - I'd love to try it with risotto!

[Ellie]

Awesome risotto, and those two little peeking prawns are just too cute!

[Paul]

Hi Barbara, Good looking prawns. I must ask though..what was the lady behind the fish counters response??
Well done, great image, great recipe, nice twist with the stones.
Cheers,
Paul

[ilingc]

The risotto looks fabulous Barbara! Cute prawns too. :)

[Tanna]

Fabulous risotto.
I love our food blogger stories of what the regular non foodie would find mentally unbalance. But hey it was worth it, it looks like you got the two with the cutest eyes! Yea, what was the response?

[Chris B]

Barbara lovely photo I see what you mean about the eyes.

Caroline Stone's Ginger wine can be bought in England and my husband usually has a bottle in the house. So you might be able to find it in Ireland.

[Tim]

The prawns look positively happy to be sitting on such a well crafted risotto!

[Golly]

Very cute eyes! Stones is readily available in the UK and as the 'Whiskey Mac' made of Stones and Jamesons is a popular winter warmer I'm sure it would be availabe in Ireland too.

[beccy]

Those eyes would put me off eating it. Much as I love eating dead animals I don't like to be reminded of the fact that once they lived! Otherwise looks very tasty Barbara.

[Kat]

love this photo of your risotto, looks really delicious!

[cookiecrumb]

Oh, I clicked. Wow!!!
Beautiful, Barbara.
I don't know if this is a contest (I'm an uninformed Yank) but I hope you win.

[Emma]

Very pretty indeed! Lovely looking risotto. Good idea to use the green ginger wine.

[barbara]

Caroline _ i'm sure it is available in Ireland.
Ellie. Thanks. :)
Paul - She looked at my quizzacally (is that a word?), so I said they were for a photograph and she went out the back to make sure she found the prettiest!
Ilingc - Thanks. :)
Tanna - If only I could have got smiley prawns, They do look a biat grumpy.
Chris - Thanks and for answering Caro's question too.
Tim - Thankyou:)
Golly - Whisky Mac is popular down here too.
Beccy - Perhaps you put sunglasses on them? ;)
Kat - Thanks and yes it was delicious.
Cookie - nice to see you here. It is a contest but if I win I'd have to pass it on the the second place getter as it wouldn't look good for the originator to win.
Emma - Thankyou. It needs a good splash of lime to balance it.

[Ari (Baking and Books)]

"the prettiest ones with nice eyes" - lmao, that is priceless! If I ate prawn I would have probably said the same thing. Maybe it means we're addicted to our food blogs but who says that's a bad thing?

Gorgeous photo!

[barbara]

Ari - addicted to food blogs. Yep, I'm guilty ;)

[arfi binsted]

i never use wine when cooking risotto, but i use chicken stock instead. i think the taste will probably very much different. briliant photo, barbara!

[barbara]

Arfi - I've never made it without a dash of wine at the beginning so I don't know how much difference there would be.

[Mae]

It's funny cos only on Saturday i had the same conversation with my fish monger! I asked if i could have the prettiest squids [i was only buying two]. He asked why and i said 'because i might be taking photographs of them'. He looked at me blankly and i had to explain. :)

Your prawns are very pretty with gorgeous eyes, dahling. I love the sound of this risotto. Limes...

[Ml]

I love risotto, but risotto with an Asian twist? Yummy! I doubt I would be able to find ginger wine, though. Lovely, lovely!!!

[wineandwheels]

Interesting comment on blogging taking over your life. I had the same thought the other day when I was IMing my brother and I said, "I'm going out for a ride on our tandem, maybe I'll get a post out of it." It's strange, this blogging thing. I think I might come up with a golden rule: never let the minutes you spend blogging out number the minutes you spend doing whatever it is you're blogging about. Apologies for getting off topic.

[CookingChat]

That's an innovative risotto. I posted about a good one I made recently with chicken & butternut squash. Recipe here:

http://cookingchat.blogspot.com/2006/11/butternut-chicken-risotto-with-fresh_15.html

[Bruno]

Great looking risotto Barbara! And, yes I'll admit I found the prawns cute too, but I'll stop short of asking one of them out for a date because I bet you ate them after taking the picture...

[barbara]

Mae - as long as we don't start putting lipstick on them I think we are still sane.
Ml _ I thought Stones Green Ginger wine was available throughout the world.
Wine and Wheels - blogging does kind of take over doesn't it.
Cooking Chat - thanks for dropping by. You should have entered it in the event. There's a prize!
Bruno - Yep all gone.

[keiko]

Oh Barbara, I can't resist this - what a beautiful risotto. I love your 'twist' too :)

[barbara]

Keiko - thank you. it was a nice change from my usual risotto. :)

[Bea at La Tartine Gourmande]

What a wonderfuly looking risotto! I love it Barbara!

[J]

I am loving your work, Barbara. Thank you for your kind comments on my risotto also - I really enjoyed my first entry to the HHIDHD concept, I look forward to #9!

J

[kathryn]

Nice touch putting in Stones Ginger wine. Lovely risotto Barbara.

[barbara]

Bea - thankyou.:)
J - thanks and I'm glad you will join us next event.
Kathryn - thank you.