Name: Risotto con calamari e pomodoro (Risotto with calamari and tomato)
Yield: Serves 6
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 1 stalk of celery, trimmed; 1 large carrot, peeled; 1 large white onion, peeled; 5 tablespoons olive oil; a handful of chopped parsley; 250 ml (1 cup) white wine; 400 g (14 oz) tin of peeled tomatoes with their juice, cut into chunks; 1 small dried red chilli, crumbled; 1 kg (2 lb 4 oz) calamari; 3 garlic cloves, peeled; extra virgin olive oil, to serve; 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) risotto rice; 1.5 litres (6 cups) water (or fish or vegetable stock, if available)

Preparation info

Serves
6

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Twelve

By Tessa Kiros

Published 2003

About

In this recipe, the calamari is cooked separately in the tomato and herbs and added to the rice in its final cooking stages so that the calamari remains soft. Parmesan cheese is not generally served with fish and seafood risottos, yet many people insist that this dish cannot be served without it.

Ingredients

1 kg (2 lb 4 oz) calamari
3

Method

To clean the calamari, pull the tentacle part out of the body and from the inside pull out the transparent bone and discard. Rinse out well under cold running water. Hold the tentacles firmly with one hand squeezing out the little beak bone and cut it away, leaving the tentacles whole. They should resemble a neat crown. Rinse. Cut the body part into thin rings and the tentacle part into halves