Black risotto

Ingredients

• Cuttlefish — in rings700 g
• Cuttlefish ink3 tbsp
• Arborio rice320 g
• Onion1
• Garlic4 clove
• Dry white wine150 ml
• Fish stock1 l
• Tomato paste1 tbsp
• Parsley20 g
• Olive oil60 ml
• Salt and pepperto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Fry the onion and garlic in olive oil until soft, add the cuttlefish and cook five minutes; it releases water.

   10 min

2. 2

   Add half the wine and the tomato paste and stew covered for twenty-five minutes, topping up with stock, until the cuttlefish softens.

   27 min

3. 3

   Add the rice and toast it two minutes, until the grains turn translucent at the edges. Pour in the rest of the wine.

   4 min

4. 4

   Add hot stock a ladle at a time, stirring, for eighteen minutes. Each addition goes in when the last has nearly been absorbed.

   18 min

5. 5

   Five minutes before the end stir in the ink. The risotto turns black within seconds.

   5 min

6. 6

   Off the heat, beat in a spoon of olive oil and the parsley, cover for two minutes and serve.

   4 min

About the dish

The cuttlefish is stewed before the rice, for about twenty-five minutes, and only then does the grain go in. It is tough and needs time the rice does not; they cannot cook together.

The ink is added five minutes before the end. Cooked longer, it develops a metallic bitterness that nothing removes.

No cheese goes into a black risotto. It is one of those rules Italy and Dalmatia share: parmesan with seafood counts as an error here, and on the coast it is observed strictly.

Worth knowing

• — Ink is sold separately in sachets. One cuttlefish yields very little, and for four portions its own is usually not enough.
• — The stock has to be hot. Cold stock halts the cooking and the rice sets unevenly.
• — Risotto is eaten at once. Within ten minutes it thickens and loses the flow Italians call all'onda, like a wave.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

540 kcal

Protein

34 g

Fat

18 g

Carbs

62 g

More from Croatia

• Zagorje štrukli — Thin dough with a curd filling, boiled and then baked under cream.