The Foodie Files

We've come to the end of the road with recipe's from Giglio Cooking School in Florence.  But!  This last one is a doozy.  For our first course of the evening, we made the most delicious seafood risotto I've ever consumed.  I also got my first taste of cleaning ultra fresh, straight off the boat seafood.  The majority of the cleaning process wasn't too tricky. but the squid required a little finesse....if you're interested, this video might help.  Marcella made everything seem so simple, but I have a feeling this one might be a tad tricky without her guidance.  Nonetheless, if you're brave it's absolutely worth a go!

Ingredients: 

20 oz Carnaroli rice

20 oz clams

20 oz baby shrimp

18 oz squid

20 oz mussels

4 garlic cloves

1 oz parsley

8 cups fish broth (recipe below)

1/2 cup white wine

2 1/2 oz extra virgin olive oil

Fish Broth Ingredients:

1 part shrimp heads, shells, fish bones and vegetables

4 parts liquid (1/3 dry white wine, 2/3 water)

Salt

Finely chop the garlic and parsley which will be used as the cooking base for the sea food.  Wash the fish in cold water; place the clams and mussels in a pan with a spoon of extra virgin olive oil, one crushed garlic clove, some parsley, a few spoons of white wine over a flame and cover.  Cook until they open.  

Clean the shrimp and use the shells for making the broth (which will be used to cook the rice).  To make the broth, combine all fish broth ingredients and bring to a boil.  Let simmer for 20 minutes, salt, then filter through a sieve.  While that cooks, cut the squid into rings; shell the clams and mussels and filter the remaining cooking water.  

Pour half of the remaining oil into a pot and brown the garlic; then add the rice and let toast.  When the rice is hot, add a glass of white wine and let evaporate; add the boiling broth of shrimps, a ladle at a time.  From this time you can calculate approximately 18 minutes until the rice is done.  

At the end of cooking, mix in the mussels and clams water.  While the rice is cooking, prepare the sauce: in a frying pan brown the garlic in the left oil and add the chopped parsley and a drizzle of white wine.  Add in the following order; the squid, shrimp, mussels and clams.  Cook together for 4-5 minutes and remove from the heat.

In the meantime, the rice should be almost cooked.  Mix in the sea food, finish to cook with the shell water.  Serve hot with a sprinkle of chopped parsley.