Shrimp and Pea Risotto

Sunday April 20

We got lovely fresh green peas in pod yesterday, and as they came from the Nice People, they were fresh enough to keep a day while we ate the sell-by-date spinach from the Goniffs. The fresh peas called for light flavors, and there was a pound of shrimp in the freezer. It could have been a Chinese stir-fry or a pasta, but we went with risotto.

Though Holt doesn't believe that Arborio rice is essential for risotto, we happen to have about five kilos of it, a good buy at Jungle Jim's; so it actually is what we use. A cupful of rice makes a more-than-abundant dinner for the two of us. We heated a pan of plain olive oil, without even any onion, and stirred the rice into it until every grain was coated.

For the initial liquid, we used the leftover shrimp broth from the paella we made in March; it's been in a tupper in the freezer for just such an occasion.
We bolstered it by making more the same way: shell the shrimp, sauté the shells in olive oil till pink, add about 1 cup of water and boil to get all the good out of them. Drain over a sieve to remove shells. Add liquid to risotto gradually, as it sucks it up.

After the broth was done, we also boiled the peas until tender in the same saucepan afterwards, so we wouldn't have to wash another pan.

When the rice was meltingly tender, we added the raw shelled shrimp, added them, and carefully turned them in the hot rice until they just turned pink and opaque. Usually we leave a few spoonfuls over for risotto cakes, but this meal was so fresh and springlike we just had to eat the whole thing.