Ahhh, Saturday night dinner after a long business trip. I so prefer to stay in and spend time preparing a delicious dinner over a great bottle of vino and great conversation. The shrimp looked wonderfully fresh at the fish market today and I was craving something Italian after a week of food abroad….so risotto it was! Even though a bit time consuming to stir the rice, risotto is so easy to make. Just open a bottle of vino, convince some good friends or family to keep you company, put on some good Italian music and stir away! You may even wish it took longer for the rice to finish! Enjoy!
Shrimp, Spinach and Sun-dried Tomato Risotto
Ingredients:
1 ounce sun-dried tomatoes (not packed in oil)
1 cup boiling water
4 cups chicken stock, homemade or low-sodium canned
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
8 ounces shitake mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
2 cups Arborio rice
1 cup dry white wine
1 small bunch fresh spinach, stemmed, cleaned and sliced
1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 teaspoon fresh grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon chopped Italian parsley
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Equipment:
1 small saucepan to simmer the sun-dried tomatoes (or use small bowl in microwave)
1 large pot to hold simmering stock
1 large saucepot to hold risotto
Directions:
1. In a small saucepan, simmer the sun-dried tomatoes in the water for about 1 minute until softened. Drain the tomatoes, reserving the liquid. Chop the tomatoes.
2. In a large pot, combine the reserved cooking liquid and the chicken stock. Bring the liquid to a boil. Reduce the heat and keep at a simmer.
3. In the large saucepot over medium heat, heat the olive oil. Add the onion and cook, stirring constantly, until the onion is soft and translucent -about 2 or 3 minutes. Add the sliced mushrooms and cook until soft and liquid is released – another few minutes.
4. Add the rice to the pot and stir until each grain is coated. Add the chopped sun-dried tomatoes. Add in the white wine and simmer until wine is absorbed.
5. Ladle in about 1/2 cup of the simmering chicken broth mixture and stir constantly until most of the liquid is absorbed. Continue adding in stock, 1/2 cup at a time and cook over medium heat until each 1/2 cup ladle is absorbed before adding more. Cook until the rice is tender but still al dente. This should take about 20-30 minutes.
6. Stir in the spinach, shrimp and lemon zest. Stir until shrimp are cooked through – about 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.
7. Divide among bowls and sprinkle with parsley. Serve immediately. Enjoy!
This is a delicious and flexible recipe, I made some changes according to what I had. I used corn straight off the cob instead of mushrooms, I put them in the same time as the onion. I only had sundried tomatoes in oil so I soaked up as much oil as possible on paper towel then sliced finely. I also only had pre-cooked prawns (I’m in Australia, we have prawns instead of shrimp) so added them at the very end to heat up. I didn’t have any parsley so used a sprinkle of dried basil at the end.
It was just wonderful and is now bookmarked for future reference. The wonderful thing about good recipes is the ability to add, change or omit ingredients and it still turns out beautifully. This is one of those recipes. Thank you for sharing.