Orange and Squid Risotto

Lately the weather has been terrible and this is an attempt of calling summer and nice weather into my homw. When I eat this risotto I’d just pretend I’m on a terrace facing the sea. The salty breeze caressing my face and the sound of the waves mixed with the squeak of seagulls as a background. …Yeah, I need a vacation.

Even though I tasted orange before in seafood salads, I’ve never had an orange risotto so the idea intrigued me. Could it work? Or would it be too sweet? The squid has a really delicate flavor and it can be easily overwhelmed so the good thing to do in this case is to add the orange juice a little bit at a time while the risotto cooks and taste every time to be able to find the right balance and stop at the right moment.

The flavor will also depend on the type of orange you use because we know that every orange has a different flavor: Seville orange is bitter why the Navel is sweet and the blood orange are somehow sour and sweet at the same time. For this risotto I used Navel oranges but you can also experiment with different varieties (let me know which one you tried in a comment below!)

Print Recipe

Orange and Squid Risotto

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time20 mins

Total Time30 mins

Servings: 2

Ingredients

• 160 g 2/3 cup Carnaroli Rice
• 1 Orange juice and zest
• 1 tbsp Butter
• Lemon zest
• 2 large Squids
• 1/2 White Onion
• Fish Stock or Vegetable
• Parsley
• Black Pepper
• Parmesan cheese
• EVO Oil

Instructions

• Clean the squids and cut it into julienne, place them in a bowl and add 2 tablespoons of orange juice, oil, salt, pepper and let them marinate about 10 minutes.
• Drizzle a pan with oil and toast the rice for 2-3 minutes, then add the squids with the marinade and let evaporate the liquid. Then add a couple of ladles of stock and wait until it's all absorbed before adding some more.
• Halfway through the cooking, stop adding stock and start adding orange juice to the rice, a little bit at a time tasting often to find the right balance of flavors.
• When the rice is cooked "al dente", turn off the heat and add the zest of the orange and the lemon (about 1 tablespoon in total, or less), the chopped parsley and finally stir in the butter and a sprinkle of Parmesan to make it creamy.