Risotto ai Frutti di Mare

The cooking of Venice is so distant from that of Naples, although they are both Italian cities specializing in seafood, that not a single authentic dish from one is to be found on the other's table. This risotto belongs to the Veneto, to the Adriatic coast, where the lagoon provides shellfish and the Po Valley provides rice. It is a marriage of land and sea that defines this region.

Americans ruin seafood risotto in predictable ways. They add cream. They add cheese. They drown it in garlic. They overcook the shellfish until it resembles pencil erasers. Then they wonder why their risotto tastes nothing like what they ate in Venice.

The secret is restraint and timing. Each type of seafood enters the pot at precisely the right moment. The squid goes in early because it needs time to become tender. The shrimp go in late because they cook in minutes. The mussels and clams are already cooked; they need only warming. Get this wrong and you have expensive mush.

Proper risotto technique is non-negotiable. Hot broth, added gradually, stirred frequently but not constantly. The rice releases its starch slowly, creating creaminess without cream. The final addition of butter, the mantecatura, brings everything together into something silken and flowing. This is what risotto should be.