I love Italian food…don’t you? The problem is, being gluten-free (and not by choice!), Italian is hard to get right. Pasta just isn’t pasta if it’s made from corn, rice, quinoa, etc. But risotto is one of those yummy dishes that is as Italian as they get…and it doesn’t have a bit of pasta in it. It’s creamy and rich and just melts in your mouth. Mmmm… Plus, the cool thing about risotto is that you can mix and match ingredients. Don’t want seafood? Use chicken, sausage, or even beef. Don’t like asparagus and bell peppers? Substitute broccoli and spinach. It’s such a versatile dish. The only thing you must have is onion, garlic, butter, olive oil, Arborio rice, and broth. Everything else is window dressing!
When I get stressed out, risotto is the perfect dish. I feel like I’m eating decadent food, but I tell myself it’s good for me since it’s full of vegetables (somewhat hidden for my sweetie’s comfort). What can I say? I’m a stress chef. Just the act of cooking a dish like this one calms me down and helps me find my center. In college, this was accomplished with a box of Kraft macaroni and cheese and a beer. Now that I can’t have either, I prefer something a little different. I know, I know. Some of you are probably thinking I’m weird, but to each her own, right? So on Friday, I was majorly stressing when I walked into the grocery store, and Publix had these beautiful sea scallops on sale…
Ingredients:
1 to 1 ½ bell peppers (for this one, I used ½ a red pepper, ½ a green pepper, and ½ an orange pepper), diced
medium onion, diced
4 tbsp garlic, minced, divided
1 cup diced portabella mushrooms
1 bunch asparagus, woody ends removed, cut into ½ inch pieces
1 cup Arborio rice
3 cups chicken or vegetable broth (I made mine with Better than Bullion…yum!)
4 tbsp unsalted butter, divided
2 tbsp olive oil
1 pound sea scallops
½ pound live mussels (Buy these on the day you are planning to cook! They are ALIVE and will die and be yucky if they can’t breath in your fridge.)
¼ cup white wine
Begin by prepping your veggies. Keep the asparagus separate as it won’t be added until the end of the cooking process. Sauté the peppers, onion, 2 tbsp mined garlic, and mushrooms in 2 tbsp of butter and the olive oil over medium-high heat for three to five minutes. Add the rice and sauté for two minutes. Then lower the heat to medium-low and sauté for an additional three minutes. Add one cup of broth, stir, and cover. Allow the broth to cook into the rice mixture, adding an additional cup of the broth when it has cooked into the rice mixture. Stir occasionally to ensure nothing sticks to the bottom of your pan. It generally takes about 20 to 25 minutes from start to finish to cook the rice mixture. When it’s done, the rice should be tender and creamy. (You can even substitute ½ cup of broth for a cream or half-and-half or add ½ a cup of Parmesan cheese to make it even creamier!) When you begin cooking your seafood, add the asparagus to your rice mixture so it will have time to steam in the pan but still be nice and crunchy. Yum!
To cook the scallops, put 2 tbsp butter and 2 tbsp garlic in a skillet. Melt your mixture over medium-high heat and add the scallops. Sauté for four to five minutes, turning them over halfway through. Do not be tempted to overcook! Overcooked scallops are rubbery. Remove the scallops from your pan and add the mussels and ¼ cup of white wine. Cover your pan so that your sauce mixture boils. Mussels open as they cook. Watch them…cook them for about 1 ½ to 2 minutes after they begin to open. Remove mussels from the pan and add sauce left in the pan to your rice mixture. Add scallops and mussels to your risotto pan. Done!
Serve in a bowl, topped with a little bit of Parmesan cheese. Watch as your family races for seconds! This recipe serves four if used as an entrée and up to eight if served as an appetizer.
Prep time: 10-15 minutes
Cook time: 25-30 minutes
