Everyday Seafood
By Nathan Outlaw
Ingredients
1kg live cockles, from sustainable sources
150g granary or sourdough bread
light olive oil, plus extra to drizzle
1 litre organic vegetable or fish stock
50g unsalted butter
1 large onion
1 bulb of fennel
2 cloves of garlic
240g carnaroli risotto rice
50ml white wine vinegar
100ml dry white wine
2 tablespoons dried seaweed flakes, plus an extra 1 teaspoon to garnish
100g Parmesan cheese
8 spring onions
1 handful of fresh tarragon
1 handful of fresh dill
1 lime
Top Tip
Any good seaweed will work, even crushed nori sheets that you buy for sushi – it just needs to be dehydrated and blitzed, to tenderise in the risotto. Adding the hot stock little by little and stirring continuously helps to release the starch from the rice grains, giving you that wonderful, creamy end result.
Method
- Preheat your oven to 200°C/fan 185°C/gas 6. Remove the crusts from the bread, tear into pieces and put on an oven tray. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes until golden and crispy.
- Meanwhile, bring the stock to a simmer in a saucepan over a low heat and keep it at a steady simmer. While the stock heats up, peel and finely chop the onion. Remove the tough outer layer of fennel and finely chop. Peel the garlic, remove and discard the germ from the middle, then finely chop the rest of the clove.
- Place another large heavy-based saucepan over a medium heat and add 50ml of olive oil and the butter. When the butter starts to bubble, add the onion, fennel and garlic and cook for 3 minutes until the onion is translucent. Add the rice and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes.
- Tip the crisp bread pieces onto a plate lined with kitchen paper to drain; set aside. Trim and thinly slice the spring onions, then finely grate the Parmesan. Pick and finely chop the tarragon and dill leaves, discarding the stalks.
- Pour the wine vinegar and wine into the rice pan and cook, stirring, until reduced right down to almost nothing, about 3 minutes. Add the 2 tablespoons of dried seaweed. Now add the stock, a ladleful at a time and cook, stirring slowly and continuously with a wooden spoon, for 12 minutes. Allow each ladleful of stock to be fully absorbed before you add the next.
- Next add the cockles along with another ladleful of stock and cook for 2 minutes, or until the cockles start to open. Immediately add the grated Parmesan, spring onions and chopped herbs and turn off the heat.
- Give the risotto a careful stir and share between 4 warmed plates. Scatter over the crisp bread pieces and finely grate over the lime zest, and finish with a sprinkling of seaweed. Serve immediately.
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