Prawns And Zucchini Risotto

I love making risotto because it has always been very popular with the tummies and there aren't too many pots and pans to clean up afterwards. Our local supermarket has been selling banana prawns for $18/kg; that is slightly cheaper than the market and saving me a ride to Victoria street is always welcome since the weather has been on the hot side for the past week. I picked up some of the prawns and decided to make a simple risotto with prawns and zucchini. I saved the prawn heads and shells to make a prawn stock; if you think it might be too fishy for you, just use chicken stock instead. Everyone had more than one serving and one of the tummies' plan to take some to work was dashed soon after.

P.S fennel, peas and corn also pair very well with prawns.

serves 4

you'll need;

500g of aborio rice

1/2 kg of prawns, shelled and halved lengthwise, shells and heads reserved

3 medium size zucchini, cubed

1 large onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

olive oil

1/2 cup of dry white wine

knob of butter 

parsley to garnish

for the stock;

2 l of water

2 stalks of celery

1 carrot, roughly chopped

1 onion, quartered

2 bay leaves

salt and pepper to taste

Place all stock ingredients in a pot and simmer for 40 minutes, check for seasonings.

lightly pan fry prawns and have everything ready.

Saute onion and garlic with olive oil til soft then add in the rice, continue to stir til each grain of rice is coated with oil. Pour in the wine and continue to stir til all the wine has evaporated.

Add enough stock to just cover the rice, simmer on low heat and stir from time to time. Repeat til rice is al dante.

When the rice is almost done, add in the zucchini and stir for a minute or so. Check rice for doneness and seasonings. Finally chuck in the cooked prawns and butter, turn off the heat and stir vigorously for a minute.

Garnish with a few cooked prawns and parsley. Serve immediately.