The haddock itself usually can be found on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean but between the two, the European side is probably more populated by this fish, which makes the Scottish coasts its favourite spot in the old continent. In fact, it is extremely popular in chippies where it is used for the most famous of the British dishes, fish & chips.
On the other side, this article tries to uncover a new face of this product, one far from the underground scene and more towards the high-end cuisine where risotto dishes usually stand. In fact, the haddock & mushroom risotto is a tribute to the generational Italian cuisine, mixed together with the exuberance of this fish, typical from the British islands. The procedure will follow.
Smoked Haddock Risotto Recipe
Ingredients for 6:
- 500g Smoked Haddock filets;
- 400g Risotto rice;
- 300g of mushrooms;
- 4 shallots;
- Salt;
- Pepper;
- 1 tbsp butter;
- 20g Parmesan cheese;
- 1 Vegetable stock cube;
- Parsley;
- Oil;
- Balsamic Vinegar;
Procedure:
- Clean the mushrooms from eventual dirt and finely chop them. Leave them aside for now.
- Boil a kettle;
- Add the boiling water to a pan and place the vegetable stock to melt.
- While the stock is melting in the water finely chop the shallot into thin pieces;
- Place the shallot and the mushrooms in a non-stick pan together with four spoons of oil and let everything cook until the shallot turns golden;
- Add the rice to the pan with the shallot and make it toast for at least a minute. Continuously stir during this phase to avoid the rice burning. Add salt and pepper in this phase as this is the only moment when the rice can be seasoned;
- Deglaze with a cup of white wine, better if extra dry;
- Add the vegetable stock until the rice is covered. Let it cook. If the pan becomes too dry before the cooking time continue to add stock or even water;
- Cut the haddock into pieces;
- Pour on the fish olive oil, balsamic vinegar a pinch of both salt and pepper and place it in the fridge.
- Once the rice is 10 minutes into the cooking process place the haddock pieces inside the pan and stir everything together. Putting the fish in this moment will help not to overcook it and maintain the juicy texture;
- Once the rice is cooked, which usually takes between 18 to 20 minutes, move it aside from the flame and let it rest for at least thirty seconds;
- Once this time has passed it is time to add the butter and the parmesan to make it properly creamy. Place in these two ingredients and stir until they disappear in the risotto.
- Add a dust of parsley and is time to serve.
Now it is done, the Smoked Haddock Risotto with Mushroom is ready and on the plate. Even though this preparation takes slightly more effort than the usual basic recipe, every step is straightforward and does not necessitate a high level of skills and the results are amazing. A creamy mixture where the intense taste coming from the haddock fights against the delicacy of the mushrooms, which even if covered by the fish, is present in the background and connects all of the ingredients in an explosion of flavours that will 100% hit those who you offered this dish to. Or even yourself if enjoying this delicacy in solitary.
Even though this dish can be prepared with all kinds of kitchenware, there are a few types of kitchenware that are going to elevate the result.
The best pan for Risotto
Surely, this dish can be cooked using various types of pan, but a few types allow the results to be better. To cook the rice the best options are a saucepan with two handles or a large pan with a flared edge. These will allow the distribution of the rice evenly and make it cook uniformly. Check out the links below to purchase either!
One rule which needs to be addressed is that one kind of pan is absolutely prohibited, the pans used for cooking pasta as the rice would never cook uniformly.
Materials
Copper and cast-iron pans are the best options to cook a perfect risotto. Thanks to their property they are good heat conductors as this gets diffused in an ideal manner. For what regards copper pans, even though more expensive, are durable, bring performability and look good for the table service. In cast iron instead, the release of heat is slow and homogenous, for this reason, there is no risk of areas being more heated which results in the rice cooking more in certain areas of the pan.
There you have it, the knowledge for making the best possible haddock and mushroom risotto is in your hands. Furthermore, these skills can be useful when preparing other kinds of risotto as the preparation of certain ingredients like the toasting of the risotto and the final phase which makes it creamy do not change. If you want us to publish an article on other risotto recipes please let us know in the comments! Moreover, if you enjoyed the article please leave a like and follow on our social media pages as we post updates regarding new posts.
For other international recipe by Dr Cooker go and check out the dedicated section of the website!
Thank you very much and that is all, from Dr Cooker!
