Smoked salmon risotto - how many ways?

"One of the best plates of food I ate last year was a new take on risotto, made with milk and stock, the whole dish deeply infused with smoked fish and positively glistening with butter. Eaten by the sea on a sunny, freezing day, the warmth of smoked cod set me up for an afternoon outdoors" Nigel Slater

Apologies for the quote being from Nigel Slater again - but he seems to have a quote for every occasion - a bit like, but quite different to - Terry Pratchett.

Anyway - today it's my 'cooking something special for David from an actual recipe' day. He has a cold so wasn't feeling up to suggesting anything so I thought that risotto might be the thing. Sort of soothing. And indeed - here is Nigel Slater again.

"Smoked fish and milk (or butter or cream) is one of those marriages that seems more appropriate in cold weather than on a sunny day. It is not exactly the sort of food anyone wants to eat on a sun-soaked terrace. Its warm, faintly soporific notes have a quality that makes you feel all is well with the world. Comfort food in its truest sense."

And no I'm not actually going to make his recipe because it was made with smoked cod and I don't have any. I just have smoked salmon which does not require poaching in milk. In fact, this time I am not going to actually follow one recipe but pick and choose from the many that I saw.

The closest I came to making a risotto that was completely as is, in a recipe, was one from SBS because, intriguingly, it used preserved lemon instead of the usual lemon. Normally I have jars of preserved lemons but currently I don't so that particular ingredient was out. I thought it would be interesting to try one day though and maybe I could just use ordinary lemon instead. But then I saw that it required fennel and I don't have any of that either. So that was the end of that. Another time perhaps.

I decided in the end to write a post about the many, many variations there are on one simple dish, and how you can learn a bit from here and a bit from there, and also what goes with what - in this case smoked salmon and rice and the myriad of accompanying taste heighteners - and not just the obvious lemon and dill. And I only looked at two pages of Google. I'm sure there are heaps more.

First of all what did they all have in common? Rice of course - although they disagreed between carnaroli and arborio. Mind you Nigel Slater had a real variation which wasn't really a risotto but the concept was similar - in which he used sticky sushi rice. It also used salmon not smoked salmon - so no, not really the same at all but you could apply some of it to a different tasting risotto. And there was one little lesson too:

"Use a saucepan with a tight-fitting lid and don’t be tempted to lift it until the rice has rested for 10 minutes after cooking. Much happens to the rice in those quiet moments under the saucepan lid."

Now I have never rested risotto under a lid at the end, but several of the recipes I found suggested the same thing. And I do remember that a kedgeree I made many years ago did the same thing with wonderful results - in that case you put a tea towel over it too. Alas I cannot remember whose recipe it was and have not refound it as yet. Don't think I shall be doing that tonight - the resting that is - though.

Well maybe - because the main thing I learnt from all these variations was not to add the fish until the last moment.

"It is important that you add the salmon at the very last, and leave the risotto to ‘stew’ for a few minutes off the heat, otherwise you risk losing all the flavour from the fish." All Recipes

What else do all these recipesl have in common? Well the starting couple of steps. Soften leeks, onions or shallots - lots of variation here, in butter or oil, add the rice and stir it around until it goes transparent - though one recipe I saw said 'crispy'. Surely that can't be right. Add some wine and reduce. Variation is beginning to creep in here because somebody said brandy or vodka (could you use gin I wonder?), and somebody else said pernod. I shall be adding some flat bubbly because we have some leftover from our lunch party. Then you add the stock.

And here the variations begin to multiply - chicken stock, fish stock, vegetable stock, or Nigel Slater's milk from poaching his fish. Take your pick. I may have some fish stock. If not it will be chicken. The other variation here is the addition of saffron - or even turmeric. I assume the turmeric was sort of a poor man's saffron, but it does have a distinctive flavour. I confess I have never been able to detect the flavour of saffron. I do have some but I think I will save it for a Persian dish of some kind. The turmeric recipe came from Food to Love.

Then there are the additions. These fall into three categories.

First - additional vegetables - I have seen fennel, asparagus - a common one this one - as are peas - spinach and celery. I think I might go for the celery, peas and spinach - because this is what I have, and because I have a tendency to overdo everything. But when do you add them? Opinion seems to vary. Celery and fennel seem to be mostly added with the onions at the beginning. Well they do need to cook a bit. Peas seem to be mostly added when you're getting close to finishing cooking the rice - asparagus too. Spinach - just stirred in right at the end. I might throw some leaves in - just for the additional nutrition.

Second - flavours - herbs (usually dill but it could be fennel or parsley). These were the herbs I saw suggested - and I shall be going for dill, maybe plus a bit of parsley - but really I guess you could also go for mint or coriander, lemon verbena?. Lemon - rind and juice. Now when do you add these? The majority seem to go for the final moments, but a few added the juice, and sometimes the zest to the stock. Not sure what I shall do there. Capers? Also add at the end. Don't think so today. Garlic? Yes I did see garlic suggested, though I confess I don't usually use it in this kind of risotto.

Third - creamy things. These included butter, cream, sour cream, crème fraiche, ricotta, cream cheese and of course parmesan, grana padano or pecorino. Normally I just add the butter and the cheese - usually parmesan or grana padano - but I could think about sour cream. I do have some - maybe best left for a goulash though. And all of these, virtually without exception are added right at the end - when you may or may not choose to leave it to rest under a lid or a tea towel.

Then there's the salmon. Well I'm using sliced smoked salmon, but you can get bits that are cheaper and designed for cooking, or you can buy smoked salmon in chunks. Or just ordinary salmon - in which case I'm guessing you would put it in a bit earlier as it has to cook a bit. But it doesn't have to be smoked salmon - it could be any kind of smoked fish - trout, mackerel, cod, haddock, kippers, maybe even smoked sardines. Now I have a couple of tins of those - maybe I should try that some time.

But of course you might be able to think of something else altogether. Beetroot and horseradish? Mustard? Chilli? Sauerkraut? Now there's a thought!

And that's why cooking is fun. You learn something (add the fish at the end), and you start to think about what you could use that would enhance the basics. Try it. Risotto is a really, really easy dish. You can even just put it all in a pot and cook it in the oven. Now my steam oven would probably be very, very good at that.