Here’s one for the seafood lovers: a creamy saffron risotto made with a rich prawn bisque, crunchy diced fennel and prawns. The perfect entrée dish for a dinner party to really WOW your guests!
I am really excited to share this recipe as it has been in the works for an embarrassingly long amount of time (months and months!). The base of this recipe is adapted from a risotto alla Milanese recipe published in Lonely Planet’s Italy from the Source. Milanese risotto is a simple saffron flavoured risotto, finished with butter and parmesan. However the added flavours in my recipe are inspired by the French bouilliabaise dish, which is a seafood stew flavoured with fennel and other herbs and spices. This recipe is labour intensive as you need to make the bisque first, but I promise it is worth the effort!
This recipe is in three parts: the prawn bisque, a saffron emulsion and the risotto itself. The bisque and emulsion can be made a day ahead and stored in airtight containers in the fridge.
Ingredients for the Bisque and Risotto
Prawns: I have used banana prawns, but any medium sized prawn will work.
Herbs: To make the bouquet garni, tie the parsley, thyme and bay leaves together with kitchen string securely so you can easily pull it out of the bisque later.
Fennel: Find fennel bulbs that have a decent amount of stalk and fronds still attached as this recipe uses it all!
Rice: This recipe requires carnaroli or arborio rice. These types of rice have a high starch content that will give your risotto its creamy texture.
White wine: Select a dry white wine like Chenin Blanc or a light (not oaky) Chardonnay. Also, choose one you’d like to drink as the recipe does not use a whole bottle!
Ingredients for the Saffron Emulsion
Saffron: Bloom the saffron in a little lukewarm water for at least half an hour beforehand (You can do this before you start making the bisque). Strain off the water and reserve it to add to the risotto later.
Olive oil: I have used quite a strong flavoured extra virgin olive oil. However you can use a milder flavoured olive oil or even split it with half vegetable oil if you like. The olive oil does give it a slight bitterness, but I like the depth of flavour it adds.
How to make the prawn bisque
ONE: Cook prawn heads and shells in olive oil over medium heat until they turn opaque.
TWO: Next add tomato paste, diced fennel stalk and onion and cook for two minutes. Then add bouquet garni, orange peel and fish stock and simmer for 30 minutes.
THREE: Remove bouquet garni and orange peel, transfer bisque to a high walled mixing bowl and blitz with an immersion/stick blender.
FOUR: Strain the blitzed bisque into a saucepan through a fine-meshed sieve.
How to make the saffron emulsion
ONE: In a glass jar just wide enough to fit your immersion/stick blender blend egg yolk with garlic, saffron threads and lemon juice.
TWO: While continuing to blend, slowly pour in the olive oil. The consistency should look be like a runny mayonnaise.
How to make the risotto
ONE: Cook the diced fennel and onion in olive oil over medium heat for two minutes.
TWO: Add the rice and stir through. Then 1/2 a cup at a time add the bisque, continuing to stir.
THREE: Allow the rice to absorb most of the bisque before adding the next 1/2 cup. The risotto should be simmering gently but not boiling. This will take around 20-30 minutes.
FOUR: Add the saffron water and stir through the risotto.
FIVE: Add the butter and stir through the risotto until fully melted.
SIX: Turn the heat off, add the chopped prawn meat and stir through the risotto. Serve in flat pasta bowls and top with saffron emulsion and fennel fronds.
Variations & Substitutes
You can substitute prawns for shrimp, lobster, crayfish or any other crustacean in this recipe. The cooking time for the bisque may be a little longer for larger crustaceans, but if you slice the meat thinly it will still cook perfectly in the residual heat of the risotto at the end.
If you have access to pre-made shellfish stock/bisque, you can substitute that instead of making your own if you like. You will need to eliminate the ingredients or part ingredients used for the bisque from the ingredient list.
I have suggested this dish will serve 4-6 people; 6 people as a starter or 4 as a main dish. However, you may want to bulk it out if you are serving it as a main. Add some clams or mussels: let them cook in the bisque while you are making the risotto. They are ready to serve when their shells open up. You could even add a fillet of panfried fish on top of the risotto.
Storing & Reheating Leftovers
If you do not plan to eat the risotto in one sitting, do not add all the prawn meat when cooking. Keep the prawns refrigerated in an airtight container and add them to the risotto once it has been reheated.
The saffron emulsion will keep in the fridge for a couple of days. Be careful with keeping raw egg products.
If you want to store the cooked risotto, let it cool first before transferring to an airtight container and keep it refrigerated. The risotto will keep in the fridge for a few days.
To reheat your risotto, add to a pan with a little cold water and heat over medium heat while stirring until hot. Because it is being cooked more, it will become softer. Add your raw prawn meat at the end to cook through in the residual heat.
Frequently Asked Questions
They are anatomically similar, with differing sizes and amounts of claws, but culinarily they can generally be used interchangeably. Most shrimp are smaller than prawns, so if you do use shrimp instead of prawns in this recipe you may need more of them.
The best rice is carnaroli. However, the most common suitable rice is arborio. So, use what you can find!
No! Just stir regularly, at least two stirs per 1/2 cup of stock. This agitates the starches in the rice that give risotto its creamy texture.
The Recipe
I’d love to hear how you get on with making this recipe if you try it and how much you enjoyed eating it! Leave a review below for me to read, or tag me on Instagram if you share a photo.
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Creamy Prawn & Saffron Risotto
A creamy saffron risotto made with a rich prawn bisque, crunchy diced fennel and prawns.
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
Ingredients
For the bisque and risotto:
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 6 whole prawns, around 150 grams (heads removed, bodies shelled and deveined, reserving the heads and shells to make the bisque)
- 400 grams fennel (the bulbs finely diced, the stalks chopped and the fronds reserved for garnishing)
- 1 medium brown onion finely diced
- 4 garlic cloves
- Bouqet garni: 15 grams fresh parsley, 5 grams fresh thyme, 3 dried bay leaves all tied together
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 orange peel
- juice of 1 lemon
- 200 millilitres dry white wine
- 1 litre fish stock
- 300 grams arborio rice
- 100 grams butter
For the saffron emulsion:
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 garlic clove
- a pinch of saffron (around 0.25 grams)
- juice of half a lemon
- 100 millilitre olive oil
Instructions
To make the bisque:
- Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat in a large heavy pan. Add the prawn heads and shells and cook until the shells have all turned opaque, stirring regularly. This will take around 5 minutes.
- Add the tomato paste, chopped fennel stalks and half the diced onion. Stir through and cook for 2 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for a further 1 minute.
- Next add the orange peel, bouquet garni and half the white wine, stir through and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add the fish stock, turn down the heat a little and let it simmer very gently for 30 minutes.
- Remove the bouquet garni and orange peel. Transfer the cooked bisque into a large high-walled mixing bowl. Using an immersion blender, blitz the bisque to break up the prawn shells and vegetables.
- Using a fine meshed sieve, strain the blitzed bisque into a saucepan. If you are making the risotto straight away, return the saucepan with the bisque to the stove and keep on a low heat to keep it warm.
To make the saffron emulsion:
- In a glass jar just wide enough to fit your immersion blender add the egg yolk, saffron threads (reserving most of the infused water for the risotto later), 1 garlic clove and lemon juice of half a lemon. Blend with the immersion blender until the ingredients are emulsified.
- While keeping the blender going, slowly pour the 100 millilitres of olive oil. The emulsion should have the consistency of a runny mayonnaise.
- The emulsion can be stored in the fridge until ready to serve.
To make the risotto:
- In a large pan, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Add the rest of the diced onion and dices fennel bulb and cook for 2 minutes while stirring. Meanwhile, heat the bisque in a separate saucepan on very low heat to keep warm.
- Add the rice to the pan with the olive oil and cook for a further 1 minute, continuing to stir.
- Add the remaining white wine to the rice and stir through. Cook until most of the wine has been absorbed.
- Now begin adding the bisque to the rice a little at a time. Start with one cup and continue to stir until most of the bisque is absorbed. Then add 1/2 a cup at a time, stirring until absorbed, until all the bisque has been added. During this cooking time, the risotto should be simmering gently, but not boiling. If it begins to bubble too vigorously, turn the heat down a little.
- At this point, taste a grain of rice to check that is cooked. It should be a little firm but not crunchy. If there is any crunch to it, add a little more water and stir through until it is cooked.
- Now add the reserved saffron water and stir through.
- Turn the heat off and add the prawn meat diced into segments and stir through the risotto. The residual heat will be enough to cook the prawns perfectly.
- The risotto is now read to serve! Serve in flat pasta bowls, top with a drizzle of the saffron emulsion and garnish with fennel fronds.
Notes
- You can make the bisque and the emulsion a day ahead and store them in the fridge. Just remember to begin reheating the bisque before you start your risotto as it needs to be warm.
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 70
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