Got a good, basic seafood risotto recipe, anyone?

Come to think of it, I'd also be really interested in seafood stews, too!
Instead of the risotto, if you like. Thing, is, I haven't done all that much of this sort of cooking, so feel rather ignorant about using seafood, in general. I may actually decide on a good stew instead of the risotto ...

Great development at my local market: a new, pretty good but pretty basic, seafood shop has opened. Hooray! I've never bought from the one one down the street, because .. well .. it doesn't smell right! Which meant a bit of travel to buy seafood before now. This one actually has a pretty good "seafood mix", I discovered. Fresh (not previously frozen) local stuff, with a good variety of firm fish pieces, prawns, squid, etc. Any ideas for recipes?

Checking in but not posting yet, from the land of totally awful seafood.

Yeah, it's a problem, I know, osso. As you can see (from my above post) I have only recently moved to The Land of Pretty Good Seafood. This is going to take some getting used to! Steep learning curve ahead!

Thanks for checking, though.

I've a tad of experience with good seafood. But will blather about all of that sometime later. Meantime, what did I do, moving here?

Away from the ocean?

Yes, quite away, what was I thinking. Hurls halibut at self..

Olga

There was a terrific fish and chorizo stew recipe in the Good living section of the SMH this week. I don't know what The Age equivalent, but I suspect the recipes are the same!

It sounded and looked great - now to find an audience to try it on!

I've torn it out, and can copy it for you - or it may be available on the 'net - but I couldn't find it on the Hetrald site.

Thanks, margo!

Heading over to SMH in a tick!

It might have made it online by now.

No, no ... you made the right move. I remember the reasons, the motivation very well, osso!

Fish and chorizo -

I get the idea, we have chorizo here.

I guess I should tell you about my pal, Choriza. We all went to Tijuana and Rosarito Beach, back in the day. One friend had family in TJ. The plan was to see el Cordobes, the bullfighter. We were all set up with dates one evening, by the family of the girlfriend who had family there. Me, as usual, perplexed, with a thirteen year old who spoke no ingles, and me little espanol. That's when I sat down on the floor, the place was so dark. (One of the first clues to me being night blind.. missing the chair. I nearly remember the name of the place. Nicte Ha?)

Mary Lou got to be named 'choriza' after her hours at the hair salon.

Decades and decades later, I know her as Mary Lou, but smile re Choriza.




fish an

Not the same recipe, I know (this one's from years ago) but still looks pretty good! :


Portuguese seafood rice
“Beyond risotto.”

A big-flavoured, soupy Portuguese dish brimming with thick fish fillets,prawns and chorizo.




Ingredients

* 600g ling or blue-eye fillets, skinned
* 4 tbsp olive oil
* 8 raw prawns, unpeeled
* 1 onion, halved and sliced
* 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
* 1 red capsicum, finely chopped
* 2 chorizo sausages, sliced
* 2 large tomatoes, chopped
* 1.2 litres hot vegetable or fish stock
* 400g risotto rice
* 1 tsp Spanish paprika
* 2 bay leaves
* Sea salt and pepper
* 2 tbsp torn flat parsley leaves
* 1 lemon, quartered


Method

Cut the fish into bite-sized chunks. Heat half the olive oil and fry the fish and prawns until just-cooked. Remove and season well. Add the remaining oil and fry the onion, garlic, capsicum and chorizo for 10 minutes, stirring well.

Add the tomatoes and stock and bring to the boil. Add the rice, paprika, bay leaves, salt and pepper, stirring well. Reduce the heat to very low, cover and simmer for 20 mins until the rice is cooked but still wet and soupy (add more stock or water if not). Add the fish and prawns and heat through for 5 mins.

To serve

Scatter with parsley and serve in warm pasta bowls, with lemon wedges.

Serves 4.

http://www.cuisine.com.au/recipe/Portuguese-seafood-rice

Uh, oh, that looks good.

<sigh> Be still my itchy feet!

It does, doesn't it?

This is what I got (or one of the recipes) when I Googled "simple seafood risottos". I don't know about using the tomato paste (don't like it much) & also don't know about using the Parmesan in fish dishes. Advice, please? :


Simple Seafood Risotto:


The best seafood risotto’s take hours of preparation, especially if your making your own fish stock. This recipe is a simple and tasty version that can be knocked up in less than half an hour using basic ingredients that you can keep on hand in your pantry and fridge. Serves 4.

Ingredients

1 Cup Arborio Rice

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, diced

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 tin diced tomatoes

1 tablespoon tomato paste

500 grams mixed seafood

2 Cups of chicken stock

1/2 cup white wine (optional)

1/4 Cup chopped parsley

1/4 Cup grated parmesan cheese (optional)


Method

1. Heat the oil in a large frypan and saute the onion garlic and rice for 2-3 minutes making sure the oil coats the rice.

2. Add tinned tomatoes, tomato paste, seafood as per the note below and two ladles of the chicken stock. stir regularly over low heat. As the stock is absorbed by the rice add more stock one ladle at a time. (this should take about 15 minutes)

3. Add the remainder of the seafood and extra stock if the rice isn't cooked through yet.

4. Once the rice and remaining seafood is cooked stir parsley through and serve immediately topping with parmesan.

This dish is nice with a light salad, the Parmesan is normally a compulsory part of a risotto bit I prefer to omit it with seafood risotto.

~

Yes - I saw that Portuguese one, when I went searching. Making a note of that one, too!

Mediterranean fish and chorizo soup (I remembered it as a stew, but...)

It gives a recipe and method for fish stock (fish heads, onion, leek, carrot, celery bayleaf, thyme parsley, peppercorns, white wine) - which I ignored - why complicate things. You can buy it.

800g thick, boneless fish fillets
3 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, sliced
3 chorizo sausages, sliced
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
2 red capsicums, sliced
1 tsp Spanish paprika
2 bay leaves
6 thyme sprigs
1 tbsp fresh oregano leaves
600g small potatoes, cut into quarters
400g tin diced tomatoes
1.5 litres fish stock
sea salt and pepper
3 tbls flat parsley leaves

Cut the fish into large chunks. Heat the olive oil in a pan. Add the onion, chorizo, garlic and capsicum and cook for 5 minutes until softened. Add paprika, herbs and potatoes and stir gently. Add the tomatoes and stock. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, until the potatoes are soft. Add the fish and cook about 4 minutes or until fish is opaque. Season and garnish with parsley.

Serves 6.

The picture looks fantastic - I'm just dying to dip my bread into it. Perhaps next weekend! You could certainly modify it any way you like - and downsize for fewer people.

Perhaps it'll make cuisine.com.au eventually

Mrs F has a good recipe that is more a seafood pesto rissotto. (Im not a big rissotto fan ith anything so I always change the rice to shells).

Ill see if I cant locate the recipe today. I know it had shrimp, scallops, and some irm fish.

When you are in a land with good seafood, my suggestion is DO NOT mix a bunch of flavors like seafood and chorizo together. Id think that they would be too busy fighting each other. AND, one of the rules of cooking (the way Cav used to say), try to keep it as simple as possible without losing the integrity of the dish.
Sometimes too many spices can interfere with the nice flavor of the seafood.

I hate all lobster dishes in which the lobster is all creamed up or mixed with something like tomatoes and bay leaves. Lobster (as with most seafoods) are flavors themselves and dont need any major masking (Unless of course youre in Albuquerque where seafood has to travel several days before even getting to a store)

Sorry, this one is already a pasta, and not a doctored rissotto.

1/2 C pine nuts
2T minced fresh garlic
1/4 C Parmesan
1 1/2 C FRESH basil torn
1/4C EVOO
1lb medium fresh shrimp
1 lb bay scallop
1lb firm fish fillets in fork size chunks
12oz whole wheat pasta shells (We like whole wheat pasta and its better for you)

OO as needed
s/p to taste

!Blend the nuts garlic cheese and basil slowly add the EVOO tuill incorporated . Add s/p to taste (Remember itll lose a bit of salt on cooking with the pasta)

2Cook the shells

3while pasta is cooking saute the shrimp , then the scalops and then the fish in a skillet (Use a butter olive oil mix for the sautee)

4 When fish is just getting done (Only takes a few minutes so we like ours on a rarer side).combine the seafood and pasta, then toss with the fresh pesto and serve immediately.

This serves about 2 with good appetites or 4 for a party food with other stuff.