Crab risotto

It's been a little while since I cooked risotto. The stimulus on this occasion was the sudden arrival of four blue manna crabs.

Ingredients (for 2):

• 1L of freshly made stock*
• 150g of crab meat (approx 3 blue manna crabs - cooked, and meat removed)
• Half a small onion finely diced
• 30g of butter
• 180g of Arborio rice
• half cup of Vermouth, or dry white wine
• 6 spears of asparagus - finely sliced at an angle
• Juice of half a lemon
• Zest of half a lemon
• Small handful of flat leaf parsley

The key thing is preparation. Have all the ingredients ready and the stock boiling before you start cooking the risotto. For my stock* I used a litre of chicken stock that I had left over from a previous meal. For added flavour, I added the discarded shells of the cooked crab and then heated the concoction to the boiling, removing the shells and debris after a few minutes.

The sequence is like any other risotto dish. Melt the butter add a splash of olive oil, sweat the onions and add the rice. Stir and coat the rice with the butter/oil/onion mix and then add the Vermouth/wine and turn the heat down to medium. Once the liquid is mostly absorbed, add one ladle of boiling stock at a time, repeating till the rice is almost al dente (approx 15 minutes). At this time add the asparagus, stir, and add a penultimate scoop of stock. Now add the crab meat, lemon juice and one last measure of stock if needed. Rest, then sprinkle with lemon zest and serve, garnishing with the fresh parsley, crushed black pepper and olive oil for presentation.

Wine?
The three dominant flavours of the dish - crab meat, asparagus and lemon call for something white, herbal and zesty. A Margaret River Semillon Sauvigonon Blanc or a Sancerre would be perfect.

technorati tags: wine