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This easy Dalmatian seafood risotto is a family favourite and a real triumph of a recipe when you’re hosting a multitude. You can batch cook it – hence it’s for 20 portions – freeze and reheat for later. Add this to your family recipe repertoire immediately!
Although feel free to halve or double the recipe depending on the size of your family or the limitations of your biggest cooking pot.
We do our best as a family to fast on a Friday. That means no red meat or poultry but either fish or vegetarianish meals instead. Interestingly, I find Fridays my toughest day to meal prep for.
As I was growing up there was a lot of meat, gravy, sauces and stews in my mother’s repertoire. Deeeeelicious and reflective of her Southern Dutch heritage. This hilly(ish) part of the Netherlands is landlocked and has a geographical combination of woodland amidst farmland. It’s land of red meat, be it beef or game like hare. Thus, slow cooking is an integral part of any recipe, particularly with meat like hare which’d be super tough without a long stewing process.
And slow cooking and stewing means gravy is a big part of the local cuisine and arguably why I end up doing magical things with leftovers and gravy.
However! Although I am a Queen of Gravy today, I never really learnt what to do with fish. It wasn’t a natural ingredient to turn to whereas anything meaty was.
Until my misspent youth doing a PhD in Venice and the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia…
Venetian Seafood
Oh, my gosh & golly, do they do FISH in a big way what with being on the Adriatic Sea rather than inland surrounded by woods and farmland.
Whilst in Venice I had a dabble in seafood. I lived around the corner from the Rialto Fish Market for a stint, but I managed to give myself food poisoning after attempting to cook something seafoody. Yoiks.
Needless to say, that put me off for a bit. So, I stuck with local restaurants (osterie) for anything seafoody in nature, leaving it to the Venetian experts.
What Not to Eat on a First Date
I’m going to go on a bit of a tangent here. I want to give a warning to anyone reading this who is single or maybe in the early stages of finding a beloved or courting. Whilst in Venice, I was having dinner with a friend who all of a sudden looked horrified and blushed brightly (as an Australian of Scottish heritage, with beautiful pale skin, she could do a good blush).
She whispered, sotto voce, “there’s a bloke behind you who’s trying to make eye contact with me. And he’s just smiled. AND HIS TEETH ARE BLACK”. I was curious, so made excuses to pop to the facilities in order to behold this marvel. As I turned, I saw the handsome young chap in question was enjoying some Spaghetti al Nero di Seppia i.e. Squid Ink Spaghetti.
When he made his tentative advances towards my lovely chum this chap had forgotten that his mouth would turn black. I’ll leave you to imagine what his smile looked like.
My point is, to all you single and courting types, think carefully about what you’re eating before you try and woo. Slopping ramen soup, eating lobster whilst wearing a bib of sorts (just not dignified), anything too green that can get stuck in your teeth… all these fall into the same category.
You have been warned.
Dalmatian Seafood Risotto Recipe
Back to Venice and then on to Dalmatia in Croatia, bits of which were part of the Venetian empire during the medieval period, hence my PhD topic.
It was whilst studying in Zadar that I had a super interesting time finding out about fish in ways I couldn’t have imagined.
For example, there was an academic linguist there who had reconstructed a Zadran dialect from the 5th or maybe 6th century using the colloquial terms for local fish species he found in medieval documents of the 13th and 14th centuries.
Yep. Amazing. That continues to blows my mind today but the point still stands… fish is important.
I was spoiled rotten by the postgrad students and their friends who took me – this keen and eccentric English lady who really should’ve, in their opinion, been studying the art and architecture of England – under their wings.
Stuffed grilled squid, freshly caught by the cook’s brother that morning was one supper whilst Brudet, a deliciously sloppy and decadent Croatian fish stew (another meal that must never be enjoyed on a first date), was another.
The fish risotto recipe that is the point of this blogpost, was the first time I’d seen fish stock made fresh, using the heads and shells of the prawns that are a part of the recipe.
Nothing was wasted, something delicious, and generous was cooked as a gesture of welcome.
Fish aside, one of the abiding themes of my time in Zadar was this wonderful hospitality of the Zadrani. There was always abundant food, always space for an extra guest at the table, always time for community and sharing.
One of the ladies there showed me her recipe book from the civil war in the early 1990s, when Zadar was under siege. Food was in very short supply. The recipe that still pops up regularly in my memory was one she called The Miracle of One Egg.
A cake that can feed twelve, only using one egg and whatever bits and bobs were available from their rations.
Even whilst under siege, in a war, there was opportunity to share, be hospitable, to create comfort and bind communities.
Although this Dalmatian seafood risotto recipe is an absolute winner for batch cooking in a busy family life, make sure you’ve got some on standby. Be ready to feed any unexpected guest or guests may come into your day. You’ve no idea how you may touch or change a life through a meal.
When I Say Easy Seafood Risotto…
Now, before we get to the actual Dalmatian Seafood Risotto recipe, I need to clarify what I mean by “easy”.
- It’s “easy” in that it’s only marginally more effort to make it for 20 people as it would be for four.
- It’s “easy” in that there’s ample leftovers to enjoy or future Friday Fasting meals to heat up without much thought (especially for those of us who think in terms of meat rather than fish!)
- It’s “easy” in that you can use either fresh or frozen fish.
- It’s “easy” in that once the initial chopping of onions etc are done and you’ve all your ingredients at the ready, it’s a one-handed sort of recipe. Busy mamas with babies and toddlers on your hips… I mean you!
So, what are you waiting for? Get out there, gather those ingredients and enjoy making this delicious Dalmatian seafood risotto. Especially with a glass of something white and wine-like whilst you mindfully stir it. Cheers!
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it ok to reheat seafood risotto?
Yes, it is. Make sure it is piping hot throughout though, not just hot on the outside and luke warm or cold in the middle.
Can you make seafood risotto ahead of time?
If you want the risotto fresh then you can make it maybe an hour ahead of when you want to serve it. Keep it in your large cooking pot with the lid on so it stays creamy and hot.
Can you freeze seafood risotto?
Yes, you can. Freeze the risotto into portions – be it individual or a whole meal for the family – so it’s ready to go when you are.
How do you reheat frozen seafood risotto?
First of all, make sure you defrost it properly. Leave it out on the kitchen bench top out of direct sunlight for a good 6—8 hours. Then you can either:
1. Heat it up in a saucepan with an extra cup of water (make sure you stir it regularly so it doesn’t stick or dry out) or
2. Put it in the oven. Again, you’ll need to add an extra cup or two of water. Stir it through before you put it in the oven on 160 degrees C (Fan). It’ll take about 30 minutes and then you can eat the risotto when it ‘s bubbling hot all the way through. The oven method will give it a bit of a crust on top unless you stir the risotto at 15 minutes.
Seafood Risotto
A hearty and delicious seafood risotto originally from Zadar on the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia. This recipe makes enough for 20 people, so is amazing for a feast or you can batch cook it and freeze whatever is left. Do note this risotto does take quite a bit of preparation and stirring, so make sure you've got a clear 1 1/2 hours to cook it. It's well worth it though.
Ingredients
- 2 Onions
- 6 Cloves of Garlic
- 500g Risotto/ Arborio Rice
- 3 tbsp Tomato Purèe
- 2 Tbsp Paprika
- 2 cups Dry White Wine (like a Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio)
- Generous dollop of Olive Oil
- 1.5kg Fish Pie Mix (frozen or fresh) or a mixture of fresh chunks of white fish, squid, salmon... whatever you fancy
- 350g Prawns. Ideally fresh with the heads and shells still on. If you can only get frozen or pre-peeled prawns, then you will also need...
- 2 x Instant fish bouillon stock cube
- 2.5l Water
- Salt & Pepper
- Optional: Parmesan Cheese
Instructions
- Peel the fresh prawns and clear the spine which has a line of black who-knows what. KEEP THE HEADS, SHELLS AND LEGS. Put the prawn meat in a bowl on the side for a bit later.
- Put the prawn exoskeletons into a smaller pot with generous salt and 2.5l water. Bring to the boil and then lower to a simmering heat with the lid on for 30 minutes. You're making a seafood bouillon that you'll need for the risotto.
- If you don't have fresh prawns, boil the 2.5l, add two of the seafood bouillon stock cubes, a generous sprinkle of salt and allow to simmer.
- Chop up the onions and slice up the garlic finely.
- In a ginormous pot (I use a ... litre) pour in a very generous dollop of olive oil - you'll be coating the risott rice with it - and put on a medium heat. Then gently fry the onions for 5 minutes until they are soft and translucent.
- Add the garlic and fry for another minute whilst stirring.
- Then add the tomato purèe. Stir for another minute.
- Next the paprika. Stir for yet another minute.
- Now the risotto rice. Make sure it all gets covered with the olive oil and keep stirring for two minutes. The rice will start to go slightly translucent.
- Turn the heat down very low on your large pot.
- Using a slotted spoon, take out all the bits of prawn exoskeleton and heads from the bouillon pot. You're now going to add one ladles-worth of bouillon at a time to the risotto rice and KEEP STIRRING. If you stop, the rice won't absorb the liquid and will stick to the bottom of the pan or will go soft around the edge of the rice but crunchy in the middle. Not so nice.
- Add you ladles-worth of simmering bouillon and stir until all the liquid is absorbed, maybe about 3 minutes. Keep doing that one ladle at a time - constantly stirring - until the risotto is creamy and you've used all the bouilloon. This will take about 30-40 minutes. If the rice is still crunchy in the middle, add a ladle or two of boiling water and keep stirring until the rice is soft all through.
- At this point add the two glasses of white wine (hopefully you've got some left and haven't drunk it all whilst making this dish?!) and stir it in. Be generous with salt and pepper and then add all the fish pie mix and the prawns. Stir it all in.
- Now let the risotto sit for 10 minutes so the fish can cook.
- Just before serving you can add generous amounts of grated parmesan cheese but it's still delicious without. Also run through some torn flat leaf parsley and serve with another drizzle of olive oil.
- Delicious with a simple green salad on the side and yet more white wine.
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