Fool you Risotto Negro 7 January 2008

I’ve heard about risotto negro, but haven’t tried it yet (I know that Pagliacci serves it). Risotto negro gets its name from its color, and the color is because of squid ink. There isn’t a trace of squid ink in this … but I think it gets pretty close to risotto negro by looks alone!

So where’d that beautiful color come from? Y got adventurous. He had bought some fantastic upland rice - a sticky reddish-purple variety - from Palawan.

Taste it, and it tastes like squid! The rice has an earthy flavor, so it was quite interesting.

We used the basic recipe, with these substitutions/additions:

• Use any upland rice for the arborio rice (Aside from the color, make sure the upland rice is sticky and can won’t disintegrate after being soaked in liquid for a long time. When cooked, it should be soft but still retain a good bite).
• Add green peas (frozen is good) and some sliced zucchini
• And crucial … use seafood stock.
• Variation: add actual squid, and you’ve fooled everyone that they are eating real risotto negro

Never have to bear ink-stained teeth when eating risotto negro again!