lily & gus

Mango Cilantro Risotto with Chili Garlic Shrimp

So I seem to be on a recipe kick lately.  Probably because we are moving in a month and I’m trying to make sure we use everything in our kitchen before we go! Luckily some of the results have been pretty delicious.  Here is what I did with the last of our arborio rice:

Risotto is my favorite “use whatever you have on hand” meal. A basic risotto recipe can be adapted to accommodate pretty much any combination of veggie or meat that we happen to have in the house and is always delicious. You can find a great basic risotto recipe to experiment with here and once you have that down just improvise with what you have on hand and what you’re in the mood for. I’m probably breaking all sorts of culinary rules here, but the results are tasty so I don’t figure it matters much.

I found some delicious looking mangos at the store yesterday and decided to come up with a recipe to show them off! This is the result and it was delicious. Most risottos call for butter and parmesan cheese and are deliciously creamy but I wanted this one to be more fresh and citrusy than creamy and cheesy so I dropped those from my usual recipe. That is part of the fun of this dish, as long as you have the basics (rice, wine, stock) I find the rest is pretty flexible!

Here is what I did:

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

Rice:

1½ cup arborio rice

4 ½ cups chicken stock

½ cup white wine {I use whatever we have in the house, something you will enjoy drinking with dinner}

1 medium shallot or ½ small onion, chopped (about ½ cup)

2 Tbsp olive oil

¼ cup chopped cilantro

½ cup mango cut in bite size pieces

½ cup chopped bell pepper {I used red because I liked the color it added}

Juice of one lemon

Kosher salt, to taste 

Shrimp:

1Tbsp olive oil

12 medium size shrimp {I defrosted some shrimp we had in the freezer}

1 clove garlic, chopped

zest of one lemon

½  tsp red pepper flakes

Kosher salt, to taste

Ground pepper, to taste {lemon pepper if you have it}

Optional: We love warm sourdough bread with this meal 

Preparation:

·      Heat the stock to a simmer in a medium saucepan, then lower the heat so that the stock just stays hot.

·      In a large, skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. When hot, add the chopped shallot or onion. Sauté for 2-3 minutes or until it is slightly translucent. 

·      Add the rice to the pan and stir it briskly with a wooden spoon so that the grains are coated with the oil. Sauté for another minute or so, until rice is slightly translucent. But don’t let the rice turn brown.

·      Add the wine and cook while stirring, until the liquid is fully absorbed. {I usually add a bit more than ½ cup, we like wine}

·      Add a ladle of hot chicken stock to the rice and stir until the liquid is fully absorbed. When the rice appears almost dry, add another ladle of stock and repeat the process.

Note: It’s important to stir frequently, especially while the hot stock gets absorbed, to prevent scorching, and add the next ladle as soon as the rice is almost dry. {This is a bit tedious but I usually pour myself a glass of the wine and turn on some music to enjoy while stirring!} 

·      Continue adding stock, a ladle at a time, for 20-30 minutes or until the grains are tender but still firm to the bite, without being crunchy. As you are adding the last ladle of broth add your bell peppers so that they have time to cook slightly.

·      Meanwhile, heat oil for shrimp in a small skillet over medium high heat. When hot add shrimp, garlic, pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Cook shrimp 3 minutes or until just pink. Toss with lemon zest. Remove shrimp to a bowl. {don’t forget to add these to the risotto later. This has definitely happened never happens at our house…}

·      If you run out of stock and the risotto still isn’t done, you can finish the cooking using hot water. Just add the water as you did with the stock, a ladle at a time, stirring while it’s absorbed.

·      Stir into the risotto the lemon juice, cilantro, mango and salt to taste. You don’t want the cilantro and mango to cook but you don’t want them to be cold either. Sprinkle the shrimp on top and serve {great with warm sourdough bread and a glass of the white wine you used in the rice!}

·      Risotto gets gluey if held for too long so try to serve right away {but…we have unpredictable schedules so this often isn’t possible and it still tastes pretty delicious, the texture just won’t be as nice}

Makes 6-8 servings

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