Saffron risotto with pan-fried swordfish

Difficulty 3/5

My favourite risotto is definitely saffron. I love how fragrant it is and specially how well it compliments seafood. On the other had, I also love swordfish; I think it has a very nice firmness to it and a very particular taste. If you haven’t had it before, this is an amazing combo to try it. For ganish I just roasted some tomatoes and fried some zucchini until golden. YUM!
Portions: 4

Ingredients:
– 400g swordfish (or any other fish you fancy, seabass would be nice, too)

For the risotto:
– 50g carrot
– 50g green onion
– 50g celery
– 2 bayleaves
– 1L water

– 1 cup arborio rice (short-grain rice for risotto)
– 50g green onion
– 10ml olive oil
– 50ml white wine (I used Chardonnay)
– pinch saffron (I used whole, not ground, but it would work too)
– 80g grated parmesan (I used reggiano)
– salt and pepper to taste

Garnish:
– 12 cherry tomatoes
– 3 baby zucchini or courgette
– Baby basil leaves

Procedure:
1. First we will make a very simple vegetable stock for the risotto. You could replace it with vegetable cube but bare in mind it’s salty. Cut everything very fine (except the bayleaf) and cook in the water for 30min since boiling point. Then pass it through a colander and keep the stock.

2. Chop the onion finely and sweat in the olive oil until translucent.

3. Add the rice and cook it in the oil while stirring for a couple of minutes. Then add the wine and let  it boil down to zero.

4. Add approximately 2 cups of the stock and a pinch of saffron. Add he saffron little by little because if you over-do it, it will turn bright yellow.

5. As the liquid evaporates, add a bit more liquid at a time until the rice is just cooked  (it shouldn’t be mush and without texture, but definitely not crunchy). Add the parmesan cheese and let it melt.

6. Pan fry the swordfish in olive oil. It should be cooked medium like a good meat.

7. For the garnish, I just oven-baked some tomatoes with olive oil, salt and pepper at 210C for 10min, and pan fried some quarters of baby zucchini in olive oil.