Marco Pellegrini of Caci North Fork, who we profiled in the fall 2015 edition of the Long Island Wine Press, shares his recipe for Acquerello risotto with shrimp, clams and zucchini Fiorentine:
He recommends pairing this dish with Castello di Borghese 2013 chardonnay.
Ingredients:
1 red onion, diced
3 – 3 ½ cups Acquerello rice
1 cup white wine
3 tablespoons curly parsley, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ cup hand-crushed fresh cherry tomatoes
Warm fish stock (4 quarts water and 1 lobster, boiled for 2 hours)
2 diced shrimp
12 small shrimp
12 littleneck clams, steamed and opened
Baby zucchini, 1/4-inch cut
Zucchini flowers, de-stemmed and cleaned
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
1. In a large pot, sauté diced onion with olive oil. Add a cup of water and sauté until the onion is pink (about 15 minutes).
2. Add Acquerello to sautéed onion and cook for a couple of minutes until the rice begins to stick to the pot. Add ¼ cup of white wine to deglaze the pot and let the wine cook out (about 2 to 3 minutes, stirring consistently).
3. Next, add roughly ½ cup of fish stock, a pinch of salt and pepper, 1 tablespoon parsley, ¼ cup of the crushed tomatoes, and the diced shrimp.
4. When the rice absorbs the moisture from the stock, add another ½ cup of the fish stock, as well as another pinch of salt and pepper.
5. When the Acquerello still has a slight crunch, add the baby zucchini, whole shrimp, opened clams, the last ¼ cup of the crushed tomatoes, and the final ladle of stock (depending on how thick or loose you like it).
6. Add the zucchini flowers to the risotto, and let the steam from the rice cook the flowers.
7. To finalize, add a touch more olive oil and another tablespoon of parsley.
