citrus zing!

The other night when P asked me to make something 'exotic and interesting' for dinner, I didn't immediately think to make seared scallops with citrus risotto. Frankly, I drew a blank. All I knew is that it was cold out and I wanted something warm and comforting for dinner. He suggested making something time intensive but for a late night dinner that was out of the question.

I went to my recipe collection looking for something quick and remembered this recipe from the Zuni Cafe Cookbook which I first saw from Adam's blog. Maybe this isn't the most exotic recipe ever but it struck me as very interesting and the citrus is wonderful this time of year! When I say the citrus is good, I mean wow, it's incredible. This recipe calls for limes, oranges, and grapefruit. All three were wonderfully sweet and tangy. You make this risotto like any other risotto but stir in the fruit segments at the end and you get all of these wonderful flecks of fruit mixed in.


Seared Scallops with Citrus Risotto
adapted from the Zuni Cafe Cookbook and seen on TAG

1 lb large scallops, ligament removed, cleaned and pat dry
salt and pepper
1 cup arborio rice
1 onion, diced
4 cups chicken stock (Adam says to use 5 cups but I used 4 and had some leftover)
1 lime and zest, segmented
1 orange, segmented
1 red grapefruit, segmented
1 tblsp mascarpone

First prepare the fruit. Zest the lime and set aside. Cut the top and bottom off the fruit and then carefully skin the sides removing the pith with the skin. This part is really simple. Next use a small knife and cut out each individual segment of fruit between the membrane. Collect all fruit slices with juice in a large bowl.

Heat the broth in a large pot and keep it at a simmer while you make the rice. In a large, hot non-stick skillet melt some butter and cook the onion until translucent. Add the rice and a little bit of oil if it is too dry, then toast the rice until it begins to get translucent, about 2-3 minutes. Add about 3/4 cup of the hot broth to the pan and stir, stir, stir. Turn the heat down to medium at this point and keep stirring until the rice absorbs most of the broth. Keep adding amounts of broth and stirring until the rice is al dente. The only trick to risotto is don't cook it too fast (that is at a high heat) and stir as much as possible.

In between stirs prepare the scallops. Simply pat them dry and sprinkle them heavily with salt and pepper. In a super hot skillet sear each side of the scallop until they are nicely browned and just cooked through. This should only take a minute or two.

Keep stirring.

When the rice is nice and ooey-gooey and al dente (around 20 minutes later), stir in the fruit and juice. The segments will break up nicely if you keep stirring. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Once the rice has absorbed most of the juice, stir in a heaping tablespoon of mascarpone cheese and the lime zest. Scoop the risotto into a big bowl and serve the seared scallops on top. If you used really excellent citrus, you'll have a wonderfully balanced, creamy, perfect dish for a cold night that's a little more exciting than meat and potatoes.