This elegant risotto dish hails from the kitchen of the Hot and Hot Fish Club in Birmingham, Alabama. Truly one of the most enjoyable and creative restaurants in the Southeast (if you don’t believe me, just ask the James Beard Foundation!) and subsequently on of the most mouth-wateringly wonderful cookbooks out on the market today. A soul-warming bowl of perfectly cooked risotto with leeks and fresh herbs, filled with crawfish tails and the tart hint of diced preserved lemon peel. The depth of flavors here is amazing; such a simple dish that relies on the classic risotto cooking method, quality ingredients, and a little bit of time.
(To view this recipe, click on the blue title of the blog post above*)
‘Crawfish Risotto with Preserved Meyer Lemons’
Ingredients:
- Recipe Courtesy of Hot and Hot Fish Club in Birmingham, Alabama & the Hot and Hot Fish Club Cookbook, by Chris and Idie Hastings
- 4 cups basic, cooked risotto (click on the following link for a basic risotto recipe: http://www.marthastewart.com/344961/basic-risotto)
- ¼ cup finely sliced leeks (white part only)
- 1 to 1 ½ cups shrimp stock (or you can use vegetable or chicken stock instead)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 8 oz. cooked crawfish tail meat
- 2 Tablespoons diced preserved lemon peel
- 3 tablespoons fresh herbs (such as thyme, chives or tarragon)
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- ½ cup loosely packed microgreens (or baby arugula like I used)
Directions:
- Place the cooked risotto and leeks in a large saucepan over medium heat and stir with a wooden spoon until warmed through. Slowly add the stock, ½ cup at a time, stirring until all of the liquid is absorbed. Repeat this process, adding ½ cup after each addition is absorbed, until the rice is creamy and al dente. (You may not need all 1 ½ cups of the stock.)
- Season the risotto with salt and pepper, fold in the crawfish tail meat, and cook for 1 minute or just until heated through. Remove from the heat and stir in the preserved lemon, herbs, and butter. Spoon about 1 ¼ cups of the risotto into 4 shallow bowls and top each with 2 tablespoons of microgreens. Serve immediately.
Tagged: Alabama, arborio rice, Birmingham, crawfish, crawfish risotto, fresh herbs, Hot and Hot Fish Club, Italian, microgreens, preserved lemon, risotto
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