Who Could Resist Risotto 誰能抵擋義式燉飯的魅力

It's been two weeks since I cooked my first ever risotto dish. Coming home from a few "scallop mishaps" while teaching my cooking class on Sunday, Rena asked if I could make risotto for dinner.

"Can we have risotto and scallops tonight.....? YOU make it!"
"Sure, why not?"

For one thing, I love risotto myself, especially that al dente core of each rice grain. But, what I really wanted to do was properly sautee scallops using the right ingredients, just to make up for what happened in class.

兩週前第一次煮了義式燉飯。今天在教料理課時發生了些"干貝意外"，回到家後 Rena 說今晚想吃燉飯，

"晚上可以吃 risotto 跟干貝嗎.....? 你煮!"
"uh...好吧"

我自己蠻喜歡義式燉飯的，特別是那硬硬的米心，但主要還是想好好的煎出漂亮的干貝，彌補上課時的小狀況。

As I was making the stock, I started thinking about how to plate the dish to make it visually pleasing. (is "plating" a hobby?) I remembered picture of a risotto dish made by a Michelin-starred chef in Rome, on how he was able to mold the rice into an elegant cylinder instead of the typical "blob" in a shallow bowl. I haven't used my molding toys for eons anyway, so that was the plan. I also remembered my mother gave me a bag of dried Japanese scallops from home. Dried scallops are highly prized in Asia, and bring a fantastic element into otherwise plain vegetables or soups. I decided to add that into the risotto, I mean, we've already got fresh scallops, so why not add more scallop flavors into the equation. Dried scallops are easy to use - pretty much soak it up in water to re-hydrate and you're ready to go. The soaked water also contains tons of flavor so that'll be part of my stock.

Cooking, a lot of times, is about improv, like stand-up comedy.

開始做高湯時，在想燉飯擺盤要怎麼弄才會好看 (擺盤能算是嗜好嗎?)，突然想到有次看到一位在羅馬的米其林星級主廚做 risotto 的照片，是用模子把飯塑成圓形, 而不是一陀擺在盤子上的做法。反正我的圓形模子也大概八百年沒用了，決定來試試這擺法。另外，我媽前陣子給了我一包乾的日本干貝，想說已經有煎的鮮干貝了，再多加些干貝應該 OK 吧? 自家料理通常都不計成本，而且泡乾干貝的水也可以替高湯增添味道。

做菜常常是很即興的，想加甚麼就加甚麼，有點像老外的那種台上即興表演。

Making risotto requires a bit of patience, because you really have to ladle stock in slowly and stir diligently, or you won't end up with the right creamy consistency. In the end, I had onion, sauteed mushrooms, dried Japanese scallops, and English aged cheddar cheese in the risotto. A bit of departure from classics, but I think it worked well.

料理燉飯還蠻需要耐心的，因為高湯必須慢慢地加入鍋裡，然後不停地攪拌讓義大利米的澱粉釋放，才會最後有很濃稠的外表跟口感。今晚的燉飯裡有洋蔥、煎白姬菇、瑤柱、英國 cheddar 乳酪。沒有很遵循傳統，但覺得這樣的中西組合還不錯。

Seared scallops are really simple to make - pat dry scallops thoroughly, remove "foot", season with sea salt and white pepper, heat stainless pan with grape seed oil till super hot, sautee 1 minute on one side and 30 seconds on the other and get them out of the frying pan as soon as humanly possible.

For plating, I molded the risotto, placed scallops on top, and added some chopped tomatoes as garnish. I happened to have a bottle of basil oil from class, so that was squeezed around the risotto. Right when I thought I was done, I remember Serena's mother gave me a small bottle of truffle oil! Mrs. Hsu gave me all these imported expensive Italian ingredients and asked if I could cook them and take pictures of the dishes. What a rough request, right? Anyway, the ring of truffle oil on the plate was the final touch to the dish.

煎干貝的作法超簡單: 擦乾干貝，移除小肌肉，用海鹽和白胡椒調味，平底鍋放入葡萄籽油加到高溫，第一面煎一分鐘，第二面煎三十秒，然後迅速的將干貝從鍋子裡取出。

我把燉飯用圓形模子擺好後，上面放了三顆干貝，然後再加上少許的碎番茄點綴。中午教學時剛好有一瓶羅勒油，就在飯的周圍擠了一圈。就在覺得已經完成時，記得 Serena 的媽媽送了我一瓶義大利進口的松露油，徐媽送了我一些義大利的食材，說只要我煮好拍照片給他就好了，真是好康啊! 最後當然就在盤子的外圍滴了一圈的松露油來做 finish。

We ate the Italian flag that night.

晚上吃了義大利國旗。

Scallops and truffle oil really match perfectly. Risotto has so many variations so I don't think I'll run out of risotto ideas any time soon...risotto with pesto...saffron... We'll see what I feel like next time. I wonder what would happen if I use Asian short-grain rice to make risotto - might have to give that a try later.

干貝搭配松露油只能說是絕配。義式燉飯的作法很多種，應該很難重複，青醬燉飯...番紅花燉飯... 就看下次要煮時的心情如何。不知台灣本地的白米是否可以用義式燉飯的做法煮，可能下次要來試一下。

Date: 2011.6.26