Squink Risotto Recipes

Steps:

• Coat a large saucepan generously with olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and salt and sweat until translucent, about 5 minutes. Bring the pan to a medium-high heat. Add the rice and cook, letting the rice slightly stick to the bottom of the pan and scraping it off, until it sounds crackly, 3 to 4 minutes.
• Add the wine to the pan until it covers the surface of the rice. Season with salt and cook over medium-high heat, stirring continuously, until the wine has absorbed into the rice. Add the chicken stock to the pan until it covers the rice, about 4 minutes. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring continuously, until the stock has absorbed into the rice, about 6 minutes.
• Repeat this process two more times with the hot chicken stock. When the third addition of the stock has absorbed and the rice is very creamy, bite a couple grains of rice to test how it is cooked. Add the squid ink and mix to incorporate. If the rice is still a little crunchy, add a little more stock and cook the rice for another couple of minutes. Add the calamari and allow to cook until tender and the rice is creamy but still flows and holds its own shape, 5 to 7 minutes. When the rice is cooked perfectly, remove it from the heat.
• Toss in the butter and Parmigiano-Reggiano and fold to combine. Garnish with chives or micro bull's blood if using, and a big glug of good extra-virgin olive oil.

Steps:

• I have said that I usually use white wine or dry white Vermouth in a risotto, but I must concede that the recipes here don't appear to bear this out. I've got an excuse with this one, too: the whole point of this risotto is that it's black, tinted by the squid ink (the squink of my title) and I had no desire to lessen its impact with some pallid white wine. But it's not just a question of colour: the squid ink is so richly, headily flavored that nothing less than a robust red would stand up to it.
• As strange as it might sound for so exotic a dish, this may even pass muster as a storecupboard standby. The rice, the broth and the squid ink (it comes in sachets, from a good fishmonger or Italian deli, or online source) can be kept easily. I have marked the squid-ring topping as optional, but even that can live in the freezer for a few months.
• While I am more than happy to eat it plain black, I can't help feeling cheered by the jaunty tricolore adornment provided by the squid rings, red chile pepper and parsley. Not that I'm being cheered is altogether the point of such a beautiful, sombre dish, the perfect date meal for Goths.
• Cut the squid (if using) into thin rings and set aside while you get on with the risotto.
• Heat the broth until almost boiling, and keep the broth warm in a saucepan on the lowest heat
• Warm the 2 tablespoons oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan and soften the sliced scallions for 2 minutes on a low heat. Keep stirring and don't let them burn. Grate in the garlic and turn up the heat. Toss in the rice and turn it in the oil and so it is slicked and shiny. Pour in the red wine and let it bubble up over the rice.
• Wearing disposable vinyl gloves, snip in the squid ink and carefully dunk the squeezed out sachets into the separate pan of hot broth to get out any remaining ink. Then add and keep adding ladlefuls of hot broth to the rice, letting one ladleful be absorbed before adding the next, stirring all the while.
• When the rice has had 15 minutes, you can be less assiduous on the stirring front and get on with the squid, if you're using this. In a frying pan, heat 2 teaspoons olive oil and the chile, until sizzling, then add the squid rings and cook, stirring or shaking the pan a little, for 3 minutes. Season with ground pepper, to taste.
• By this time, the black risotto should be ready, so divide it between warmed shallow bowls or plates, top with chile and squid, if using, and scatter with parsley.

Steps:

• Heat olive oil in medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic and saute until soft. Add the rice and mix to coat with the oil and cook for 2 minutes. Raise the heat to high, add the wine and cook until all the liquid has evaporated. Place the stock and the squid ink in a large saucepan over high heat and stir to combine. Begin adding the hot squid stock 1 1/2 cups at a time and cook until the liquid is absorbed. Continue until the stock is gone and the rice is al dente. Add the squid and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Preheat grill or grill pan. Toss prawns in olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill for 2 to 3 minutes on each side until just cooked through.
• Blanch the scallions for 30 seconds in a large pot of boiling salted water over high heat. Drain and shock in cold water. Combine the scallions, onion, garlic, and vinegar in a blender and process until pureed. With the motor running, slowly add the oil until emulsified. Add the honey, season to taste with salt and pepper and pour into a squeeze bottle.
• Assemble: Spoon the risotto into 4 bowls. Top each bowl with 2 prawns and drizzle with the green onion vinaigrette and some of the chopped lobster.