Ingredients:
1⁄2kg of carnaroli or arborio rice
4 large shallots
Extra virgin olive oil, 1 cup of white wine
1⁄2 leek, the white part
1 carrot, 1 garlic head
150g of green beans
50g of celery stalks
24 clams
Vegetable or fish broth
15g of butter, 70g of Parmesan cheese or dry manchego
75g wild rice and some oil to fry it
Chives and parsley, chopped
Preparation
Chop the shallots and garlic finely and the leek, green beans, celery and carrot into julienne.
Method
In a saucepan brown the shallots, leek, garlic, carrots, green beans and celery, but don’t let them take too much color. Add the rice and stir well, letting the oil coat all the rice. Add white wine and then add the broth, or you can keep adding the hot broth in stages, stirring often so that the rice can release its starch, halfway through the cooking throw in the clams (well-scrubbed from the sand). Cook it for about 17 minutes more for al dente, season to taste with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Once off the heat add a knob of butter and the cheese, stir it through with a spatula to give it the desired creaminess.
Presentation
Serve on a plate decorated with popped wild rice, which you make just like popcorn by frying the rice in hot oil so that it swells like popcorn. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and chives.
Alternatives
Like all risottos, it can be made with a variety of ingredients in place of clams and vegetables, for example with mushrooms.
NUTRITIONAL NOTE:
There are many varieties of rice, whole-grain and wild varieties are the richest in fiber, while the white varieties like the arborio contain more starch and therefore absorb more juice during preparation, making the dish tastier. When we allow them to cool, this starch becomes resistant and we end up using it more as food for the gut bacteria rather than as a source of energy. Fish broth contains a large amount of calcium and phosphorus since it is prepared with fish bones.
