RISOTTO WITH SQUID INK AND RICOTTA

Risotto With Squid Ink and Ricotta image

Provided by Marian Burros

Time 1h

Yield 8 to 10 servings

Number Of Ingredients 13

Ingredients

½ cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil
4 or 5 bunches green onions, white and light green part only, finely sliced
1 pound 5 ounces Arborio rice
1 tablespoon squid ink (see note)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
4 cups dry red Italian wine
5 cups vegetable stock or broth, heated
Salt and pepper, to taste
Hot red pepper flakes, to taste
1 pound 5 ounces cleaned cuttlefish or squid, coarsely diced
1 ¾ cups fresh ricotta, preferably sheep's milk (see note)
¾ cup milk
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Steps:

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Heat ½ cup plus 1 tablespoon oil in heavy pan and sauté onions for about 2 minutes over medium-high heat.
Stir in rice and continue cooking 3 or 4 minutes until rice absorbs some oil. Stir in ink and continue stirring to mix well, about a minute. Add tomato paste and wine and cook over high heat to reduce by about half.
Add 2 cups of stock and cook quickly over medium-high heat, stirring often. When most of liquid has evaporated, add another two cups of stock and repeat, seasoning with salt, pepper and hot pepper flakes, to taste. If rice is not yet tender, add another cup and repeat. Two minutes before the rice is ready, stir in the cuttlefish.
Mix ricotta with half of milk and extra virgin olive oil to make it easily spreadable; add more milk as needed (this step can be done while stock is reducing).
Spoon rice mixture into a round or oval casserole and spread the ricotta mixture evenly over the top. Bake for about 10 minutes. If cheese does not brown, run under broiler for about 2 minutes.

Nutrition Facts : @context http, Calories 297, UnsaturatedFat 13 grams, Carbohydrate 13 grams, Fat 17 grams, Fiber 2 grams, Protein 6 grams, SaturatedFat 4 grams, Sodium 814 milligrams, Sugar 3 grams