Risotto al Salmone
Why I Love This Recipe
Most of my risotto recipes are designed as a side dish or an appetizer before the main course, thus 1 cup of rice serves 4 to 6 people. When I use fish and/or seafood however, I tend to make the risotto the main dish. With my love of salmon, it is no wonder. I could probably eat the whole pot by myself. This recipe only serves 4 as a main dish, serve with asparagus with a little lemon butter or some baby greens tossed with a little olive oil and some mandarin oranges.
NOTE 1: If using King/Chinook it’s Salmone Reale; Coho/Silver it’s Salmone Argenteo)
NOTE 2: This recipe works really well with Tuna Steaks as well.
Simply replace the salmon fillet with a cubed tuna steak.
Reduce the wine to 1/2 cup
Add 3 TB lemon juice to the wine.
Replace the Tarragon with Dill weed
This would be Rissotto al Tonno
Ingredients You'll Need
4 TB unsalted butter – Divided
1 Small Bunch of Scallions – Chopped (White parts only)
1/2 of an English hot house cucumber – peeled, seeded and chopped
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice (Or Carnaroli)
3/4 cup Room Temperature White Wine (Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, or Semi-Seco Carta Nevada)
3 1/4 – 4 cups Fish Stock – You can use Chicken or Vegetable
1 LB Salmon (Atlantic) Fillet – Without skin and cubed small (I would even use Coho (Silver) or Chinook (King) for this, try to avoid Sockeye though)
3 TB fresh Tarragon – Chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
1 TB Mascarpone
The zest of 1/2 lemon
Directions
Bring the stock to a simmer in a small sauce pan over low heat. Cover to keep it warm.
In a medium, heavy saucepan, Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter over medium heat.
Add the scallions and cucumber, sweat until they begin to turn translucent; then add the rice and stir to coat with the butter.
Add the room temperature wine and simmer until it has almost evaporated, about 3 minutes.
Add 3/4 cup of simmering broth and stir until almost completely absorbed, about 2 minutes.
Continue adding the broth 3/4 cup at a time, stirring frequently and allowing each addition of the broth to absorb and pull the starch out of the rice before adding the next. This should take about 10 – 12 minutes.
When you have added about 2/3 of the broth, add the cubed salmon and the tarragon.
Continue adding the rest of the broth until the rice is tender but still al dente and the mixture is creamy and the salmon is cooked, about 7 minutes.
Remove from the heat.
Stir in the remaining 2 tablespoon of butter, mascarpone cheese, the lemon zest, and the salt and pepper.
