Garlic Prawn Butter seared Japanese Scallops in Mushroom Risotto
Ingredients:
Grey prawns – medium size – about as many as you like
Scallops – as many as you like
Shiitake Mushrooms – fresh – one punnet
Chinese celery – 4 stalks
Rice – uncooked – one cup
Chicken bones – 1 pack
Garlic – 6 cloves
Shallots – 4 pieces
Himalayan rock salt – 1 tsp
White wine – quarter cup
SCS butter – salted – 30 grams
Mozzarella cheese
Thyme or mixed Italian herbs (bottled)
Cracked black pepper
Olive oil
Method:
1. Boil the chicken bones to make chicken stock
2. Boil the rice in hot water for 6 minutes. Then drained and set aside.
3. Slice the mushrooms and fry it on the pan without oil to get the moisture out of the mushrooms. When fragrant, add mixed Italian herbs, or thyme, a little butter, a few slices of garlic or whole garlic and stir fry till fragrant. Then set aside.
4. Stir fry the minced shallots in a pan with a little olive oil. Sweat the onions until fragrant. Add in the blanched rice. And stir fry for a minute over medium heat. Then turn it down to low heat and drizzle a little white wine and continue to scrub the pan of the flavour.
5. As rice tends to soak up the flavours slowly, gradually ladle the chicken stock that you have been boiling on the side. Turn the fire to low for the chicken stock. Gradually stir the rice to ensure that it doesn’t burn. Once it dries up, continue to add more stock. Add the rock salt. Cook the rice (aka risotto in Italian) until it is al dente. Al dente means the rice is cooked but yet has structure. Before it reaches al dente, add the fried mushrooms, and chopped Chinese celery. Give the risotto a good mix. Taste test to ensure that it is fragrant. Once ready set aside.
6. For the garlic prawns, add oil in the pan, 1 tbsp of minced garlic, stir fry until fragrant. Then add the prawns and fry over medium heat until the prawns start to curl into the shape of the letter “C”. This means the prawns are cooked. If the prawns curl into the shape of the letter “O”, it means they are overcooked. The prawns should be juicy and cooked just nice. Plate them on top of the risotto.
7. For the scallops, ensure that they are patted dry. You want to sear them in the pan, not steam them. The scallops usually have a lot of water in them, so you really want to dry up as much moisture before adding the salted butter. The heat of the pan will add the lovely brown burn on the scallops. Plate them on the top of the risotto.
8. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese and eat.
Bon Appetit!