Cuttlefish ink risotto

A classic dish that is always loved: here is the recipe for squid ink risotto.

How delicious is the cuttlefish ink risotto! Creamy, irresistible with its scent and that intense sea flavor given by the cuttlefish and their ink … in short, if you've never tried it, you don't know what you're missing.

There are many ways to prepare it, there are those who prefer it without cuttlefish, those who add other fish, those who cream it only with butter and those who also prefer to give it an extra boost of flavor with a little cheese . We opted for a simple version in which all the flavor of the dish emerges using cuttlefish and their ink, skipping the classic creaming with butter and parmesan which would cover the flavor.

How to prepare the squid ink risotto recipe

1. First clean the fresh cuttlefish , keeping the ink sacs aside, which will complete the dish. If you want, you can have this operation done by your fishmonger but if you do it at home, first make sure that the cuttlefish have a bag and then equip yourself with gloves for cleaning.
2. Cut the cuttlefish into rather small pieces and keep them aside.
3. Finely chop the onion and brown it in a pan with oil . Add the cuttlefish, cook for a couple of minutes then add the rice .
4. After toasting it, add some white wine to taste and start cooking the rice only when you no longer smell alcohol rising from the pan. You can use vegetable broth or better yet fish broth . Starting from the boiling of the rice, calculate 16-18 minutes of cooking.
5. Halfway through the time, dissolve the squid ink in a ladle of broth and add it to the risotto. Add salt only at the end because the ingredients used are already very tasty.
6. Once cooked, let the risotto rest for a couple of minutes before serving. We prefer to skip the creaming but if you prefer you can add one or two tablespoons of raw oil instead of the butter.

Here is a video that illustrates all the steps to make this first fish dish, perfect for special occasions. In this variant, tomato puree is added, which however we preferred to omit to leave the taste of the sea given by the cuttlefish unchanged.

Variants

Squid ink risotto is often prepared by adding other seafood such as prawns . In this case, after cleaning them, sear them in the pan for 2 minutes and add them to decorate the finished risotto. Only in this way will they maintain their color. The same goes for the cuttlefish: to create a nice contrast between the black of the risotto and their whiteness, sear them in a separate pan and add them to the rice only after serving.

To prepare squid ink risotto without cuttlefish you can use 2 sachets of ink . They can be found on sale in most well-stocked supermarkets.

Conservation

We recommend consuming this perfect recipe for squid ink risotto at the moment . We do not recommend storing in the fridge or freezing in the freezer.

Origin and history

The origins of black risotto are to be found in Venetian poor cuisine when cuttlefish were cooked whole with rice, skipping the risotto process. The dish appears to have originated in Dalmatia , now Croatia, when it was under Venetian rule. It was then the merchants of the Serenissima who contributed to the diffusion of the recipe which, having reached Catalonia, became famous as arroz negro , or black rice.

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