Seafood Risotto

The foolproof way to make a risotto is with barley, but you don't get quite the creamy texture. I spent the morning at Williams Sonoma at a "risotto technique class" and on the way home I gathered up ingredients for mine. (It was much better than theirs!) I went to Connolly's and got 2 fish frames for the stock (if you decide to follow this recipe, take a look at my fish stock guidelines) and about 3/4 of a pound each of bay scallops, squid, and large shrimp. At Market Basket I got several different brands of Arborio rice (the rice they used at WS was wicked expensive and not noticeably better to my mind).
I started the fish stock. For the risotto, I diced one onion and sauteed it in butter and good olive oil in my 6 qt. pot (not as nice as theirs, but I think a better shape). Then I added minced garlic and sliced shitake mushrooms (I'd put the stems in the stock). When the vegetables were soft I added the squid, sliced thin, along with the scallops and the shrimp (peeled -- I added the peels to the stock). The problem was that the fish, except for the shrimp, was very small, and I wanted to remove it before I added the rice. I used a pair of tongs and got most of it out, but there was not much oil or butter left so I added some.
The rice went in next --the idea is to sautee it till the rice is translucent and you can see the white in the center. Not sure I got there, and I think the oil was quite moist because of the fish. Eric was visiting and asked that I not put any wine in the rice. I don't think it made any difference in the final result.
By the time the rice was ready to be moistened the fish stock had come to a boil several times. I used a measuring cup to ladel out stock, approximately 1 cup each time (or a bit less). At WS they had stirred the risotto until the liquid was absorbed each time and then added more, so I followed that process. I think it works well -- perhaps helps the rice to release more liquid.
When the rice was tender enough -- still a bit al dente -- I added the fish. Another problem -- the fish had a good amount of liquid so the addition brought the rice to a bit beyond al dente. I grated some asagio cheese and added that.
It was really good. The next time all I'll change is finding a way to cook the fish so that it doesn't mess up the rice. I think if there is so much of it and it's cut small it will need to be prepared separately. Maybe cooked first, and then strained so that the liquid can be mixed into the rice as it cooks.
What else did we have? Bread, and a salad of summer greens and tomatoes from the garden. I'm growing Polish Linguica Tomatoes this year -- no kidding! They are really good. And a great way to prepare a tomatoe salad is to cut the tomatoe up and mix it with vinegar (and herbs and onion etc if you want). Let them sit while you prepare dinner and then strain the juice off and make the salad as usual.

Mussels from OWL

This past weekend Chief, Wyatt, and I gathered mussels from the beach at the Old Wharf Lot. They had been plentiful several years ago, but in the past couple of years my favorite places were barren, and a few red tides had gotten me quite out of the habit. Sunday the two grandboys and I found an amazing trove of them hidden under seaweed on the rocks at low tide. We brought up lots -- really too many. I cooked them for dinner, along with spaghetti and a salad. The boys stuck to the spaghetti and the salad.
Saturday night we'd gone to the Lobster Pool and I'd ordered mussels. Why, Chief wanted to know, were the mussels so much smaller. "The ones I crack for bait to catch crabs fill up the whole shell." I explained that when the mussels cook they shrink. But truth to tell the Lobster Pool mussels were quite overcooked. The ones I cooked were much bigger and much tastier. However, they were also quite gritty. Cleaning mussels means scraping lots of stuff -- mostly beards and barnacles -- off, and I had definitely short changed the process.
To try to clean them a bit more I boiled some water and steamed them briefly, no doubt sacrificing a major bit of flavor. Then I transferred them to a pot where I'd sauteed peppers -- red and green, plus a small hot Thai pepper -- plus an onion in oil. I added some white wine and the water I'd steamed them in, which I'd strained to try to catch sand and stuff. As they opened I turned off the heat and served them in the cooking pot.
We ate them for dinner, and for lunch the next day, and... and finally I threw the last few away.