Rose's September Shop Watch: Fruits de Mer
Fruits de Mer
M&S
What?
Frozen raw seafood
Why?
A risotto in Italy
When I play that game, which we all do, of where I want to be when all this is over, then last month I was in Portugal eating custard tarts, but this month I am sitting on the port of a small Italian fishing village. It is dusk, the sun is just disappearing from the sky and I am eating risotto ai frutti di mare. The fishing village is still a friendly family resort where the day’s fish is landed from the small boats and sold in an open market. Most of the family-run trattorie serve dishes which are fish-based, with fish that has been bought that day: spaghetti alle vongole; alici marinati; grilled sea bass; and, of course, that seafood risotto. I dream of eating that risotto.
I have never attempted to make this dish before, thinking it too difficult to get small quantities of the individual ingredients, but then I noticed that M&S sell a bag of frozen raw seafood – Fruits de Mer – with scallops, prawns, squid and prawns. So, since I won’t be getting to my fishing port anytime soon this provides me with my chance to try and recreate the dish.
There are a few rules I think you need to follow with a seafood risotto. The first is to chop all the seafood finely after defrosting. Contrary to popular belief there is no merit to having a mussel or prawn standing proud of the rice - in Italy you never see this - I think the very taste is created by this fine chopping so that the flavours get tangled up in each other. It would be even better with a few chopped clams too which you can buy in a jar from Ocado (Delicius vongole) and keep in your food cupboard.
Secondly use olive oil rather than butter. This is the exception to the rule but the oil works better than butter with seafood. Then use fish stock – it really does make a difference in intensifying the flavour. And finally, NO Parmesan - the rule in Italy is never serve Parmesan with fish risotto or pasta.
Start the risotto in the usual way with very finely chopped onion, in oil, but add a little chopped garlic and a few chilli flakes too. Pour in the rice, some white wine and then started adding hot fish stock a ladle at a time. Halfway through the cooking time stir in the chopped seafood along with two or three chopped plum tomatoes – tinned is fine. Continue cooking until the rice is al dente, squeeze some lemon juice over, season and stir in some finely chopped parsley. And there it is: risotto ai frutti di mare. Unfortunately, no mare at the moment but a taste of Italy.
Conclusion:
It's what dreams are made of
Product Details:
Fruits de Mer
Frozen
£6.00
Contact:
marksandspencer.com
Price and availability as at 31st August 2021