'Nduja risotto recipe with grilled seafood skewers

There aren’t many dishes unimproved by a hit of ‘nduja. I think we can agree on that. So it’s no surprise that we’re thinking about a bit of ‘nduja risotto. You might approach that by blending risotto with this ‘nduja pasta sauce recipe, or this ‘nduja pesto one. You might even make a more or less plain risotto and stir in a spoon of ‘nduja at the end. But these things wouldn’t necessitate a new recipe. You could simply improvise them.

No, if we’re going to have an ‘nduja risotto recipe, then let it be a specially designed stunner. This one’s based on a favourite dish of mine from Cibo in Olympia. I ate it at our wedding, and order it nearly half of the time I return.

At Cibo, a seafood skewer is grilled and set beside a bed of fregola pasta. We’ll keep the skewer, swap the fregola for risotto and introduce the ‘nduja, to create a spicy seafood spectacular.

The recipe

Serves 4

Ingredients

 

• 8 x Large prawns with the shells on
• 300g Monkfish
• 8 x Scallops with the roe removed
• 300g Arborio rice
• 1 x Lemon
• ½ an Onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 250ml Dry white wine
• 1 tbsp Chopped parsley
• 75g ‘Nduja
• 90g Parmesan cheese
• 1 litre shellfish stock, or vegetable stock, or a mix.
• A couple of big handfuls of spinach
• Olive oil
• Salt
• Black pepper
• Skewers

Method

 

1. If your skewers are made of wood, get them soaking in advance so they don’t burn on the grill.
2. Keep the shellfish stock at a very gentle simmer (not boiling), in a small saucepan, so it’s at a good temperature for adding to the risotto later.
3. Skewer the prawns, monkfish and scallops, alternating the different seafood pieces. You’ll need one skewer per person.
4. Get the finely chopped onion softening in a pan over a medium heat for 3-4 minutes until translucent.
5. At this point, add the rice and coat in oil. Fry for a minute or two until the rice grains begin to fracture.
6. Add the garlic and white wine, evaporate off the alcohol.
7. Begin adding a ladle of stock at a time to the pan, waiting until the rice more or less absorbs it before adding another.
8. Add the ‘nduja during this process too.
9. Once the rice is cooked but still firm, add the parmesan cheese, parsley and a squeeze of lemon. If it’s too dry, add a little more stock. It should hold its weight but be oozy.
10. Steam the spinach and dress with a very little olive oil.
11. Season and grill the seafood skewers quickly, or pan fry them so that the seafood is just cooked.
12. Serve the skewers on top of the risotto, with the steamed spinach alongside.