Deviled Crab Risotto

Husband has been out of town for a few weeks and that means that very few new recipes have been coming out of my kitchen. With just little one and myself at home I don’t do very much cooking and the cooking that I do is simple and familiar. Now that husband is home I’m looking forward to trying out a few new dishes. My menu list for the next two weeks is full of recipes that are new or that I haven’t made in years.

I made this dish the night that husband came home. Sadly, I didn’t think it would take as long for the chicken stock to incorporate into the rice. It may have felt like it took so long because it was just a toddler and me at home. I was constantly watching the clock and wondering how much longer I had until little one was “done” and would have a meltdown about dinner not being ready. I bought myself quite a bit of time with little one by filling up one side of the kitchen sink with cool water and gave him several containers to play with in the water. I let him stand on our step stool and placed a bath towel on the floor to help with clean up. Little one loves to stand on the step stool and “watch mama” so I knew that he would be ok on the step stool for a while.

Our family was very pleased with this dish. It’s very tasty and filling. Best of all, it’s a great dish for a chilly night! Most of the ingredients are pantry items but there are a few ingredients that are out of the box, at least at our house. Thankfully these items aren’t very expensive and are relatively easy to find. I did have a tough time finding real crab meat at my grocery store so I used imitation crab meat. I’m sure real crab meat would taste better than imitation but in a pinch imitation works well. Make this as spicy or as mild as you wish. Ours has a good bite to it but not so much that little one won’t eat it. Little one has been exposed to many spicy dishes so he’s more willing than most toddlers to eat spicy food so proceed with caution if you have a little one of your own.

There is an additional recipe that uses this recipe. I plan on trying it out later this week but halving the recipe since we have eaten half of the recipe below. If you are interested in this additional recipe you can find it here.

Enjoy!

I had a helper!

4 cups chicken stock

1 generous pinch saffron (about 30 threads)

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 slices bacon, finely chopped

1 onion, finely chopped

1 rib celery, finely chopped

1 fresh fresno chile pepper, seeded and very finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 tablespoons thyme

1 ½ cups arborio rice

Salt and pepper

½ cup dry white wine

½ cup grated parmigiano-reggiano

3 tablespoons butter

8 oz. crab meat

Old Bay seasoning –to taste

Hot sauce – to taste

In a small saucepan, bring the stock, saffron and one cup water to a low boil. Lower the heat and keep warm.

In a heavy skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook until crisp. Stir in the onion, celery, chile, garlic and thyme and sauté for two minutes. Add the rice and stir for about one minute then season with salt and pepper. Add the wine and cook to evaporate. Begin adding the warm saffron stock a few ladlefuls at a time, allowing it to absorb almost completely before adding more, stirring rapidly and frequently to develop the starch until the risotto is creamy, about 18 minutes. Stir in the cheese and butter.

In a bowl, season the crabmeat with the Old Bay and hot sauce to taste. Remove the risotto from the heat and gently stir in the crab. Serve immediately in shallow bowls.

Adapted from http://www.rachaelraymag.com/Recipes/rachael-ray-magazine-recipe-search/rachael-ray-30-minute-meals/deviled-crab-risotto-milanese