Risotto nero con le seppie. From Venice. This is quite a spectacular dish, but probably not to everyone’s taste. If you can’t find cuttlefish you can use squid. The tricky part is removing the ink sac when you clean them. I have to admit that I chickened out and bought a preprepared sachet. 50c well spent in my opinion. The recipe called for fish stock, but I used water as the cuttlefish has quite a strong flavour and I don’t think you’d be able to taste the difference.
Black cuttlefish risotto ingredients
Serves 4.
- 1kg cuttlefish, cleaned and the ink sacs reserved
- 1 litre fish stock or water
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 1 small clove garlic, finely chopped
- 175ml dry white wine mixed with 150ml water
- 350g risotto rice
- 25g butter
- salt and pepper
- Cut the cuttlefish into strips or dice.
- Heat the oil in a saucepan. Add the onion and garlic and cook over a low heat for a few minutes, stirring from time to time.
- Add the cuttlefish and season with salt and pepper. Go easy on the salt as cuttlefish can be quite salty. Cook until the pieces have turned white.
- Add the wine and water, cover and simmer over alow heat until tender. Timing depends on the size of the strips, but it’l probably be around 20 minutes.
- Stir in the rice and cook for a few minutes, stirring frequently until most of the liquid has been absorbed.
- Add a ladle of hot stock (or water) and continue according to the standard risotto method.
- When the risotto is ready stir in the butter and serve.
Black risotto
I loved this dish, when I tried it in Venice. I’ve tried to replicate it at home – close but just not the same without the canals by your side.
I know what you mean 🙂