WineLovers Discussion Group

On another forum a poster (Kenny H) posted a "sweet corn risotto" recipe. Sounded good, and I pointed out to Betsy. But then this week lobster is $3.99/lb at Stew Leonards, and my idea was lobster/corn risotto. I have the idea, and turn over the execution to Betsy (I read and napped as she worked)

Rough recipe:

In a pressure cooker, 1 qt chicken stock, 1 qt water, 6-8 shaved corn cobs, 1 cup corn, 1 ancho chili
Bring to pressure, cook for 15 minutes, remove cobs and chili, puree with immersion, run through sieve, return chili to corn stock

For the risotto-
1 head roasted garlic (mashed to paste)
1.5 cups arborio rice (rinsed)
3 fresh thyme sprigs
1 large sweet onion, minced
corn from 4 grilled cobs
6-8 cups of stock (at simmer)
1 cup mix of parm/asiago
1/4 cup cream
2 tablespoons butter
¼ cup EV olive oil (Betsy used some she had roasted garlic in)
1 cup white wine
3 1 to 1.25 lb. lobsters, steamed till just underdone, removed from shell

Sautee minced onion till soft/translucent in butter and oil. Add rice and thyme. Cook rice to translucent. Add wine, then add corn, roasted garlic paste, stir. Add stock gradually, stirring, till al dente. Shut off heat, add cheese to melt, add cream, add lobster. Garnish with thyme and fresh chives.

I'm sure it's delicious, but why the cheese? I might try it without, as I'm not a huge fan of cheese and fish/shellfish, seems to further cover the taste.

Rahsaan wrote:I'm sure it's delicious, but why the cheese? I might try it without, as I'm not a huge fan of cheese and fish/shellfish, seems to further cover the taste.

Would it be a risotto without the cheese?

Mark Lipton

Mark Lipton wrote:

Rahsaan wrote:I'm sure it's delicious, but why the cheese? I might try it without, as I'm not a huge fan of cheese and fish/shellfish, seems to further cover the taste.

Would it be a risotto without the cheese?

Mark Lipton

I have no idea, I've never been the Veneto. I'm guessing they don't do lobster, but I'll take your word that they add cheese to other seafood dishes. Learn something new every day.

Hmmm... I was thinking that if I were to make this dish, somehow, I'd incorporate the water from cooking the lobsters, perhaps instead of the chicken stock.

Rahsaan wrote:I have no idea, I've never been the Veneto. I'm guessing they don't do lobster, but I'll take your word that they add cheese to other seafood dishes. Learn something new every day.

Venice is at the head of the Adriatic, and all the cuisines of the region - Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, even Emilia-Romagna - use plenty of seafood, including langoustines. Cheese is not common in seafood and fish dishes, though, although it's certainly not unknown - Marcella Hazan, the ultimate Bolognese, does it a lot. But I wouldn't be surprised to find a cheese-free risotto in Venetian cookery.

I've made our family risotto for years.....lots of mushrooms, but no cheese. Recipe handed down from my aunt. Part of my family is from Portugal, but since she was a gourmet cook, and very much ahead of her years in the cooking world, it is probably something she found in a cookbook. She loved Julia Child and cooked many of her recipes. I rarely put cheese in my risotto, even though it calls for it.

Obviously lots of risottos (especially seafood) don't use cheese- black risotto, and I love a Venetian scallop/radicchio recipe from Biba Caggiano that I'm pretty sure is cheeseless. And I never add cheese to seafood pasta dishes. But as I seriously doubt the Venetians often do corn in their risotto, this was scarcely a lesson in cultural fidelity.
It was very rich, and that would be the reason for eliminating cheese, more so than hiding the taste, which didn't seem to be an issue. But I liked the way it was (although maybe not great for my cholesterol count, been able to stay off meds so far).
Howie, I've not generally found lobster cooking water to retain a lot of lobster flavor, though I've pressure cooked or long cooked bodies and shells with shrimp shells to make stock.

Once, when Pumpkin and I were dating, we went to a cozy, hole-in-the-wall Italian restaurant. I forget what I ordered but he had lobster ravioli. When the waiter came by with freshly-grated parmesan, I was offered some and then the waiter turned to walk away. Pumpkin stops him to ask for cheese, and the waiter, eyes saucer-wide, says, "No, no, never cheese with fish!" and heads off.

I think never, before or since, has a waiter simply said 'no' to us.

Jeff, as I understand it -- the Italians generally think that when fish is combined with cheese, it smells like the fish is old and starting to get stinky, "turning." And I think they have a point. Possibly because in America, fish tends to be sold either quite fresh or frozen, we don't associate a parmigiano-like odor with old fish. ?? I am not surprised that the waiter refused to "ruin" the lobster dish (from his point of view).

The best risotto I ever had by far was on an island in the lagoon off of Venice. It was made with a simple fish broth and nothing else, certainly no cheese. If you like cheese with fish, by all means go for it. But my travels in Italy say that you will rarely, if ever, find the combination there.