I was looking for new recipes to try for Lent when I saw this Parmesan Risotto with Roasted Shrimp recipe from The Kitchn pop up on my Pinterest feed. It immediately went on my brainstorming list and when Tory approved it for our Lent recipes, it went on my menu.
The risotto is creamy and cheesy from the parmesan cheese. I changed the seasoning on the shrimp to use Sate seasoning, which gives it a little bit more of a kick than the original salt and pepper in the recipe and is one of my favorite seasonings for shrimp. This is also an easy recipe to make on a weeknight since it’s done in about 45 minutes.
Here’s what you need:
We’re going to start by prepping the shrimp, that way when we’re busy stirring the risotto later on, we can just grab the shrimp and throw it in the oven to roast.
Toss the shrimp with a drizzle of olive oil and about a ½ t of Penzey’s Sate Seasoning.
Cover a sheet pan with tinfoil and toss spread the shrimp out. Put this in the fridge until you are about 5 minutes from finishing the risotto. When ready the shrimp will bake at 400 degrees for 5 minutes or until pink and opaque.
Now it’s time to start the risotto. For a recipe like this mise en place (basically prep work – it stands for ‘putting in place’) is very important. Start by dicing up half of a small white onion and mincing 2 cloves of garlic. This is also the time to grate up the parmesan cheese (if you didn’t buy grated – I grated ¾ of a cup from a wedge using my microplane
Using a wide, deep saute pan, melt the butter on medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook for 3-5 minutes until soft and starting to turn golden.
Add the rice and stir to make sure it’s coated with the buttery garlic and onion mixture. Continue to cook and stir for about 2-3 minutes to toast the rice.
Deglaze the pan with a little bit of white wine. Stir the rice until wine has evaporated, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pan to get up any stuck on bits of garlic and onion.
The next step in risotto is pretty hands on. You’re going to want to have some warmed broth ready to add. We’re going to add the broth one ladleful at a time, stirring very frequently until the broth is absorbed and then repeat. This slow process allows the Arborio rice to release its starch and is what creates the creamy texture of a good risotto.
I took a few pictures along the way in this process. So you can see how it starts to thicken and change.
You want to make sure to keep this at a gentle simmer throughout the process, not a rolling boil. You will see it start getting creamier and the rice starting to plump.
When it’s ready, the rice will be tender and the risotto will have a porridge like consistency.
The whole process will take about 20 minutes, and I like to start tasting at about 15 minutes. This is also about the right time to pop the shrimp that you prepped earlier into the oven.
Once the rice is cooked, remove the pan from the heat. Add the parmesan and parsley.
Stir together. See how nice and creamy this looks? Make sure to taste and season as needed with salt and pepper.
Serve the roasted shrimp on a bed of the parmesan risotto.
- ½ lb medium, peeled and deveined shrimp.
- ½ T olive oil
- ½ t Penzey’s Sate seasoning
- 4 c chicken broth
- 1 T butter
- ½ small white onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 c Arborio rice
- ¼ white wine
- ¾ c parmesan cheese, grated
- ½ c finely chopped parsley
- Heat oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with tinfoil.
- Toss the shrimp with olive oil and sate seasoning. I like to add half the sate seasoning first stir and then add the 2nd half to help minimize clumping of the seasoning. Spread the shrimp on the prepared baking sheet and pop in the fridge until about 5 minutes before the risotto is done.
- Warm the broth in a saucepan over low heat.
- Melt the butter over medium heat in a wide sauté pan with deep sides. Add the onion and garlic and cook for 3-5 minutes until beginning to turn golden. Add the rice and stir to coat with the garlic and onions. Toast the rice for 1-2 minutes.
- Pour in the wine to deglaze the pan. Stir in and make sure to scrape the pan to bring up any stuck on garlic and onion bits. Continue stirring until the wine evaporates.
- Add the broth one ladle at a time. Keep the rice at a low simmer and stir frequently until the broth has almost completely been absorbed by the rice before adding the next ladle. This step will take about 20 minutes. Begin tasting the rice after about 15 minutes, the rice is ready when it’s just a little chewy and has the consistency of porridge.
- During the last five minutes of cooking (as best you can estimate it), put the shrimp in the oven. Bake shrimp for 5 minutes until opaque and slightly pink (it may be hard to notice the color change with the sate seasoning).
- Remove the risotto from the heat and stir in the parmesan and parsley. Taste and add salt or pepper as needed.
- Serve the shrimp over a bed of risotto.
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