Pre-New Years Dish: Seafood Risotto with Saffron

Happy New Year fellow bloggers and readers!

Are you ready for holiday binge eating?
Roasted chicken, prime ribs, grilled steak,
Maybe some Asian goodies like spicy hot pot and shabu shabu?
(Or you want them ALL!)

Let's all pack up some extra layer of fat to get through this bone chilled winter time!

Anyways,
I just can't believe it's gonna be my last post for 2010 (tears..),
Next time you see a new post coming up,
I will no longer be the same "Cindy,"
Possibly a more mature, all grown-up one?
Nah~ More likely just gonna be a (rounder) me.

So before all that oily, fatty goodies on new years eve, and days after that,
How about we start out with something lighTER?

Seafood risotto with saffron -

Ingredients (for 3)?

0.7 lb/18~20 shrimps (peeled and deveined)
0.3 lb/10 mussels
0.1 lb/handful squid
2 cups of Arborio rice
Some chicken stock (seafood stock is even better, but I couldn't get a hold of it)

4 cloves of garlic
4 tablespoons of shallots
1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon of unsalted butter
1/4 cup of dry white wine (plus few more tablespoons)
0.2 gram/tiny pinch saffron
Some Italian parsley
Some olive oil
Some sea salt
Some freshly ground black pepper

How?

Clean all the seafood and set aside -

Drizzle some olive oil in the pan and turn to high heat,
Add in finely chopped shallots, some salt, and pepper,
Cook for about one minute then add in finely chopped garlic and red pepper flakes.

Before garlic gets burned, toss in all the seafood and give it a quick stir,
Now pour in 1/4 cup white wine, wait till the seafood is about 80% cooked through,
Transfer the seafood to another plate.

In the same pan, add one tablespoon of butter,
Stir in 2 cups of Arborio rice and cook for couple minutes so every grain gets coated with that lovely juice -

Now back to regular risotto cooking steps,
Add a little bit of stock at a time, give it a quick stir,
When the soup is nearly being fully absorbed by the rice,
Pour in more stock and repeat the steps.

Don't forget to add our lovely but $$$ saffron threads during the process -

I also substituted a small portion of chicken stock with few more tablespoons of white wine,
What can I say, white wine, especially the fruity kind, just tastes so good with seafood!

It'll take about 20~25 minutes till the rice is ready,
Some salts might be needed to add more flavor when cooking this risotto,
I cooked mine "al dente," but left it a wee bit on the harder side,
Why?
Because the seafood is gonna get tossed back to the rice and cook for at least 3 more minutes,
(Or till fully cooked through)
It'll prevent my rice gets overcooked or turned smooshy.

Just sprinkle some chopped parsley all over when ready to serve,
Very light but fragrance dish -

That's all for today, well, 2010,
Hopefully I'll start off my new year with slow roasted pork belly and boba milk tea!

*Or maybe just a nice large bowl of soup noodles will do.