Cuttle fish risotto

-- To start get a glass of vine of your choice.

2. Sip the vine.

3.Turn down Carmen the opera so that you can think

4.Now we need to break all prejudice against cuttle fish . Despite the fact cuttle fish look like aliens hung from front of restaurant in Chinatown. Cuttle fish to all those living near sea and amongst fishermen is a delicacy. The bigger the better, and same goes for fresher.

Black risotto is one a favourite Dalmatian delicacy. It is literally a black risotto made black with the natural cuttle fish ink.

I was taught to make this risotto , on a boat, at sun set by the fisherman named Krivi. To help you visualise ,Krvi kad one eye missing and a white beard. He also loved women almost as much as alcohol, and a little less than the sea. That afternoon, Ivana S. Ivana H, Zrnika, Tuta, and I where on the boat. Krivi had just caught a 2 kilo cuttle fish and set to making risotto for us all, which meant that the girls cut up vegetables and stirred under his orders, and he was in charge of the fish.

This is his recepie and it is the kind of recipe you do want to make a lot of, and invite friends to, or if not you certainly want to have some left for tomorrow as it is delicious.

Dalmatian kitchen despite it being geograficaly near Italy, unlike the Italian kitchen does not worship the tomato, in the Dalmatian kitchen the tomato is a countess and the Onion is the Queen of the kitchen. Also contrary to Italian recipes, Dalmatian kitchen is based on the idea you should put a lot of everything good to make a good dish, whilst Italian is all aobut tiny bit of this and tiny bit of that (I found it hard to adjust to this ideology in rome as all my firends there know).. So this risotto will not follow the usual Italian risotto minimalism.

This recepie will feed about 4 croats or english , or 8 italians, or 3 americans. Double it or half it according to amount of people at dinner. :

Ingredients:

About a kilo of onion

A big bunch of parsley or two

A whole garlic

2 laurel-bay leaves

a table spoon of tomato pure or 3 big fresh tomatoes

A half- liter (pint) of white vine

olive oil

About a kilo of fresh cuttle fish.Get this Fresh from a fish market and ask the person who cleans the fish in front of you on the market to not break and to separate the cuttlefish ink sack and put it a separate plastic bag to the side.<

salt

3-4 teacups of rizotto rice/ a pound/ or 400-500 grams />
a spoon of butter optional

hot water

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To cook: Chop all onion and garlic parsley in to smallest pieces that you have patience to cut, and throw them on to heated olive oil into a big thick bottomed pot or casserole.

Throw in the bay leafs.

Chop the cuttle fish into chunks including legs and throw into the frying onions. Add chopped tomatoes or puree. Stir until the onions turn golden.

Add half of the wine and few minutes later cover with water so that all of the cuttle fish is covered. Alow to simmer on low heat for aobut an hour or more every now and than stir .

Adding vine and water as so there always a finger of sauce above the cuttle fish. Salt to taste.

When the cuttle fish becomes very soft and breakable in the mouth- and stops being rubbery this only happens with enoguh cooking time. The sauce will by this time have a sweet-salty taste. Add the rice and get used to stirring until the rice is cooked. Keeping the heat very very low as it burns easily.

When the rice gets too dry add some hot water.. The rice ought to soak up all the sauce but still you ought to be able to move it around the pot. Now add the cuttle fish ink sack to the risotto, breaking it with the spoon, to make it turn black.

Keep stirring until the rice is a little bit al dente. If you wish for it to be creamy add a spoon of butter and stir. Than let the risotto set 1O minutes.

The risotto will be even more delicious the next day.. Take of the heat, try salt.. Eat with a lot of friends and drinking a lot of wine. You have to be able to have a laugh as when you east the risotto will momenteraly turn your teeth black :)

Enjoy!

The day Krivi made this last, he popped the cuttle fish eye out whilst cleaning it and hit his trousers it was hilarious. Krivi had died since having awoken up on his boat, at sunrise, drunk a shot of Grappa, and had a stroke in a moment of contentment. Every time I cook his recpeies he haunts me..