I submitted this recipe for Calamari Risotto to Presto Pasta Nights, last week to Debbi Does Dinner but my email seems to have got lost in the ethernet, so I am sending it off to Anu of Truth Personified for this week.
Usually during the Tour De France my friend Kim and I watch ‘together’. She will be in the lounge of her home in Australia and I will be in the lounge of my home in Gordons Bay. We sit with our laptops, chatting on IM and we discuss where they are, how the riders are doing and generally what has happened during our day. It is so amazing that she can be 6 hours time wise away and about 20 hours of travelling away from me. As soon as she hits the enter button on her laptop, I can read what is on her mind. So, during the tour I have been coming home to chat to her, but she has not been online. It is usually about 17h00 here when I get home, and I know that means it is bedtime for her, but I miss her. In order to keep myself company, I will have to cook! This calamari risotto is a perfect meal as it takes time to prepare everything, and there is still 35km to go of today’s tour.

Calamari Risotto
Ingredients
- 15 mls lemon infused olive oil
- 1 shallot finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 1 celery stalk finely chopped
- 200 g Arborio rice
- 125 mls white wine
- 500 mls vegetable stock on simmer
- 2 pinches flaked salt
- 125 mls frozen peas
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to season
- 2.5 mls mixed herbs
- 30 g butter
- 15 mls olive oil
- 1 chilli halved
- 250 g calamari
- small handful fresh rocket roughly chopped
Method
- heat the lemon infused olive oil in a large frying pan
- sauté the shallot and garlic, without colouring
- add the celery and cook until soft
- add the rice and stir until it starts toasting
- add the wine and allow the alcohol to burn off, and the rice to absorb the wine
- add one ladle of stock and stir until it is absorbed
- add a pinch of flaked salt and another ladle of stock
- once again stir while it is being absorbed
- add another pinch of flaked salt and continue to add a ladle of stock at a time
- you don’t need to stir all the time, but make sure you stir often and don’t add another ladle until the stock has been completely absorbed
- when you have one ladle of stock left, add the peas and adjust the seasoning and add the herbs
- now add the last ladle and check for doneness
- at the same time as adding the last ladle of stock, heat the olive oil and 15g butter in a separate pan
- add the chilli and the rest of the garlic
- flash fry the calamari on a high heat until done
- take the risotto of the heat and add 15g butter and mix in thoroughly
- remove the chilli from the calamari
- top with the calamari, the pan juices and garnish with the rocket
Click on the links for conversions and notes.
I’m not a calamari fan, but this looks good.
Thanks JamieAnne – I think it can be quite horrid if not cooked correctly 🙂
Please can I have a bowl *begging face* …
*calls DHL to see if they will deliver hot food*
Tandy, That looks and sounds amazing. I love risotto! I’m sure to try once life settles down a bit.
please let me know how it worked out when you do try it!
Tandy, your calamari risotto looks fabulous! Think I may have to put in an order for this if I ever come to visit.
🙂 Mandy
I will make it with pleasure 🙂
Wow Tandy, this calamari risotto looks delicious, creamy and full of flavor.
Hope you are having a fantastic week 🙂
Thanks Juliana! Our week so far has been amazing – hope yours is too 🙂
Had grilled calamari for lunch today but now wish I´d made a risotto instead 🙁 Should have read my messages earlier!
grilled calamari works for me 🙂
grilled calamari works for me 🙂
Tandy, yum! That’s exactly what I said when I clicked on your post! Love seafood risotto , yours looks particularly creamy and lush…
Thanks so much Celia 🙂
I know what it’s like to have a best friend in another time zone… hard to actually connect, but when we do, it’s wonderful.
Sorry your dish didn’t make it into last week’s Presto Pasta Night Roundup – and even though risotto is really a rice not a pasta dish – I always think of it as such. I’m drooling at how delicious it looks.
thanks Ruth! I spoke to my best friend on Monday but it is always bed time for her when she calls 🙂