Oven Baked Roast Onion Risotto with Scallops
Recipe for Easy to Make Risotto of Shellfish, Onions and White Wine
Sep 5, 2009
Risotto is a wonderful dish from northern Italy: rich, creamy and satisfying it is great comfort food, especially on a cold day. This oven-baked risotto is easy to make, and wonderfully luxurious. The recipe, which appears here with permission, is the creation of chef Annie Bell and comes from her new cookery book Gorgeous Greens (pub. Kyle Cathie, £14.99), with photography by Chris Alack.
The risotto is packed with red onions and there is no stinting on the butter; laced with capers, it melts over the scallops at the end. If you find scallops with their corals attached, then Annie Bell suggests that around twelve should do you, otherwise use sixteen. To prepare the scallops, pull the coral away from the meat and with it the surrounding girdle and white gristle - which you cut off and discard. Depending on the size of your oven, you will probably need to roast the onions in advance of cooking the risotto.
Oven-baked Roast Onion Risotto with Scallops - Recipe
Ingredients – Serves 4
- 700g red onions, peeled, halved and thickly sliced
- extra virgin olive oil
- sea salt, black pepper
- 50g unsalted butter, softened
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed to a paste
- 300g risotto rice
- 150ml white wine
- 1.2 litres chicken or vegetable stock
- 1 heaped tablespoon capers
- 3 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest, plus a squeeze of juice
- 16 large scallops
- 100g freshly grated Parmesan
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180°C /200°C/Gas mark 6. Scatter the onion slices over the base of one or two roasting dishes in a crowded single layer, drizzle over 3 tablespoons of olive oil, season with a little salt and roast for 30–45 minutes until golden, stirring halfway through. Set aside.
- Melt half the butter in a large cast-iron casserole over a medium heat, add the garlic and stir until you get a heady hit of garlic butter. Add the rice and stir for about 1 minute, then pour in the wine and simmer until almost completely absorbed.
- Pour in the stock and season, bring to the boil, cover and cook in the oven for 25 minutes. In the meantime blend the remaining butter with the capers, parsley, lemon zest and juice.
- About 10 minutes before the risotto is ready, heat a large non-stick frying pan over a high heat. Toss the scallops with oil to coat them, then season and sear for 1–11/2 minutes each side until caramelised; they should give slightly when you press them. You will need to cook them in two batches.
- Stir the Parmesan and onions into the rice, and top with the scallops. Pop the remaining butter into the scallop pan and once it appears semi-melted spoon this over the risotto and serve straight away.
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