Clam Risotto

[Stinky The Clown]

This was our Monday night supper. I had the last of it for lunch today. It was better last night.

You need a roomy pot capable of spreading heat evenly; the entire dish is done in this one pot. Rice and flavored liquid are the main ingredients. You need somewhere between four and six times the liquid as rice. The liquid needs to be hot, but not boiling.

You also need some aromatics. For this dish, I kept it simple: 1 medium onion, diced, and 4 large cloves of garlic, pressed. Pour in enough olive oil to coat well the bottom of the pot, you want it maybe 1/16" deep. Heat it until just hot. Saute the aromatics until the onions are soft and transparent, but not brown. They will give up some liquid.

The kind of rice is important. Use either carnaroli or arborio; our Safeway sells both. I have also seen it at Costco. In last night's batch, I used 2 cups of raw rice. Add the rice and saute it to coat each grain in oil. Some (not all) rice will appear to get sort of transparent with a white dot in the center. That's as far as you need to go.

The liquid needs to be heated before you add it to the rice. I used two bottles of clam juice, a cup or so of white wine, and the liquid drained off three large cans of minced clams. Heat the liquid to hot, but below boiling.

Once the rice is sauteed, add the liquid, a ladle full at a time. Stir the rice until that liquid is absorbed. Add more and stir that until absorbed. Keep repeating, a ladle at a time, until all the rice is as done as you wish; we like it al dente, but some people prefer it more done. Yes, you *must* stir it constantly. It takes 30 to 45 minutes to cook.

For this dish, while the rice is still underdone, but close to al dente, I added the three cans of clam meat. I also added a generous amount of chopped parsley and oregano, both fresh.

As my batch was nearing done, it needed more liquid than I had of the flavored, so I used water. I also adjusted the salt at the end; it needed some.

You want the done dish to be a little on the soupy side. It will thicken as it sits, even in your bowl as you eat it.

Some people finish risotto with a few pats of butter just before serving. We do that with some, but not with this version.

This is as much about technique as ingredients. There are no hard and fast rules except for the slow process of adding the liquid to the hot rice and stirring . . . . *lots* of stirring.

The wine is optional. If you do choose to use wine, use caution with red wine. It is appropriate in a only a few risottos, but for the overwhelming majority, use white wine or none at all. This batch used a Black Box (brand) sauvignon blanc from a box (duh). Drinkable, to be sure, but unexciting.

You could use fresh clams to make this, but that involves a completely separate process. You need to steam them open, reserve all the liquid, then chop them up. I find canned clams a lot easier to deal with.

Add some chopped tomatoes, or even some crushed canned tomatoes for a different look and taste (think red clam sauce instead of white clam sauce). If you go the tomato route, you could use mussels instead of clams. Steam them open then add the mussels, whole, with their steaming liquid. Going back to the dish as I made it tonight, you could use shrimp instead of clams. Add them earlier and allow them to cook in the rice.

Anyway, have fun. Risotto is a great one pot meal. A little labor intensive, but reasonable to do, even on a Monday night.

[yellerpup]

1. I'd try it, with tomatoes or not.

This is a great risotto for the lactose intolerant since it has no cheese. Heart healthy, too. Thanks.

[Stinky The Clown]

2. There are some risottos with cheese and even sme with cream in them. We never make those.

Most of ours follow the basic construct of this one. The only dairy - and it is completely optional - is a few pats of butter at the end of a few of them.

If you want one that tastes as hearty as stew but is meatless and dairy-free, try a mushroom risotto with porcinis. The soaking liquid is to die for in rosotto! Add it to some stock (chicken or veggie) and some white wine. Wow! What a dish.

[yellerpup]

3. I'm onto that one.

I did a slideshow on my blog about that very thing. I did use a little Parmesan in it, a handful but not a boat load. The dried porcini are a staple for me know. It is a knockout dish!