Risotto alla crema di scampi (Risotto with Puréed Shrimp)

FrankLazio, primi piatti, Risotto and Other Rice Dishes17 Comments

 

As I have mentioned before, Rome is not really risotto country. But there is at least one risotto dish that appears on almost every menu in town: risotto alla crema di scampi, or risotto with crayfish (or shrimp) purée. It is one of my favorite risotti, but I hadn’t had it since leaving Rome four years ago. As I pondered what to make for dinner tonight, I decided it was time to renew my acquaintance with this old friend.

This risotto is a bit more involved than your average risotto and, for this reason, is usually served on special occasions like New Year’s Eve. The complication comes in preparing the fumetto di scampi, or shrimp fumet and the crema di scampi or shrimp purée. Otherwise, it operates like any other risotto. Scampi are actually crayfish but since shrimp are so much more common, I have devised this recipe for using shrimp. But if you can find crayfish, by all means use them; the dish will be that much more flavorful and authentic.

Ingredients

Serves 4-6 persons

For the fumetto:

  • 250g (1/2 lb.) shrimp, just the shells
  • White wine
  • 1 medium onion
  • 1 small carrot
  • 1 stick of celery
  • A few sprigs of parsley
  • Salt

For the crema di scampi:

  • The above shrimp
  • 1-2 cloves of garlic
  • Olive oil
  • Brandy
  • 200g (7 oz.) canned crushed tomatoes or passata di pomodoro
  • 200 ml (7 oz.) heavy cream

For the risotto:

  • 400g (14 oz) Arborio or other rice for risotto
  • 1 medium onion
  • The above fumetto

Instructions

Begin by making the fumetto di scampi: shell the shrimp. Take the shells (and heads if you have them) and put them in a saucepan with one liter (1 qt.) of water, a splash of white wine, a pinch of salt and the usual odori: a small onion, a carrot and a stick of celery, cut up into chunks, along with a few sprigs of parsley. Simmer for about 20 minutes.

Then make the crema di scampi: sauté a lightly crushed garlic clove in a bit of olive oil. When the garlic just begins to give off aroma, add the shrimp and sauté them as well. When the shrimp have just turned pink, add a splash a brandy and allow it to evaporate. (Some recipes call for you to set light to the brandy.) If you like, remove a few shrimp—enough for one or two shrimp per person—from the skillet as garnish. Then add the crushed canned tomatoes or passata di pomodoro and a ladleful of the fumetto, and simmer for about 20 minutes. Transfer this shrimp and tomato mixture to a blender, add the cream and blend on the highest setting until you have a very smooth, cream-like purée. Transfer this back to the skillet and allow to simmer for 10-15 minutes more to thicken the crema and concentrate its flavor. Make sure that the puree is well seasoned.

Finally, make a normal risotto in bianco, with 400g of rice, using the usual technique (see Risotto: The Basic Recipe), beginning with a shallot or half a small onion sautéed in olive oil and using the remainder of the fumetto in place of the usual broth. About halfway through the cooking time, add the crema di scampi and continue with the cooking. (You can hold back a bit of the crema for garnish. When the rice is fully cooked, add a dab of butter and proceed to mantecare. Let the risotto rest, covered, for 2 or 3 minutes before serving. If you like, garnish with a spoonful of the crema di scampi, one or two sautéed shrimp and a pinch of finely chopped parsley.

Notes

This risotto is another ‘new’ dish devised, like penne alla vodka, in the 1970s. And like penne alla vodka, it is based on a mixture of tomato and cream, sometimes called a salsa rosa or ‘pink sauce’. It was apparently quite popular, for a time, for wedding banquets and other special occasions. Its popularity has waned somewhat, but, as I mentioned at the start, it is still a fixture on Roman restaurant menus. And it still makes for an elegant appearance. Fa sempre una bella figura, as they say in Italian: it always makes a good impression.

There are some rather subtle variations in the recipes you can find for this dish. The most important would be the ratio of shrimp to rice, which can range from as high as 8:5 to (as in the recipe above) 1:2. The amount of cream and tomato contained in the shrimp purée can also be reduced down to provide a stronger shrimp taste and less fat; one recipe I’ve seen calls for only 100g of cream and 100g of tomato for 800g of shrimp. If you find this recipe either too mild in flavor or too rich, then you may find this variation more appealing.

Another, more distinct variation calls for sautéeing the shrimp heads and shells to make the crema di scampi, and passing it through a sieve rather than blending it. The shrimp tails are separately sautéed and flambéed and folded into the risotto just before serving.

Finally, I should mention that scampi are not, in fact, shrimp but a kind of Mediterranean langoustine (also known as Dublin Bay prawns) that have a much more assertive flavor than shrimp. If you can find real scampi, of course, this dish will come out that much tastier. Another possibility would be to substitute another crustacean, like crab, either combined with or instead of, shrimp, to make up for the flavor differential. I will be experimenting with variations and updating this post after I do, so stay tuned!

Risotto alla crema di scampi (Risotto with Puréed Shrimp)

Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time1 hour
Total Time1 hour 30 minutes

Ingredients

For the fumetto:

  • 250 g 1/2 lb. shrimp, just the shells
  • White wine
  • 1 medium onion
  • 1 small carrot
  • 1 stick of celery
  • A few sprigs of parsley
  • Salt

For the crema di scampi:

  • The above shrimp
  • 1-2 cloves of garlic
  • Olive oil
  • Brandy
  • 200 g 7 oz. canned crushed tomatoes or passata di pomodoro
  • 200 ml 7 oz. heavy cream

For the risotto:

  • 400 g 14 oz Arborio or other rice for risotto
  • 1 medium onion
  • The above fumetto

Instructions

  • Begin by making the fumetto di scampi: shell the shrimp. Take the shells (and heads if you have them) and put them in a saucepan with one liter (1 qt.) of water, a splash of white wine, a pinch of salt and the usual odori: a small onion, a carrot and a stick of celery, cut up into chunks, along with a few sprigs of parsley. Simmer for about 20 minutes.
  • Then make the crema di scampi: sauté a lightly crushed garlic clove in a bit of olive oil. When the garlic just begins to give off aroma, add the shrimp and sauté them as well. When the shrimp have just turned pink, add a splash a brandy and allow it to evaporate. (Some recipes call for you to set light to the brandy.) If you like, remove a few shrimp—enough for one or two shrimp per person—from the skillet as garnish. Then add the crushed canned tomatoes or passata di pomodoro and a ladleful of the fumetto, and simmer for about 20 minutes. Transfer this shrimp and tomato mixture to a blender, add the cream and blend on the highest setting until you have a very smooth, cream-like purée. Transfer this back to the skillet and allow to simmer for 10-15 minutes more to thicken the crema and concentrate its flavor. Make sure that the puree is well seasoned.
  • Finally, make a normal risotto in bianco, with 400g of rice, using the usual technique (see Notes), beginning with a shallot or half a small onion sautéed in olive oil and using the remainder of the fumetto in place of the usual broth. About halfway through the cooking time, add the crema di scampi and continue with the cooking. (You can hold back a bit of the crema for garnish. When the rice is fully cooked, add a dab of butter and proceed to mantecare. Let the risotto rest, covered, for 2 or 3 minutes before serving. If you like, garnish with a spoonful of the crema di scampi, one or two sautéed shrimp and a pinch of finely chopped parsley.

Notes

For detailed instructions on making risotto in bianco, visit:
http://memoriediangelina.com/2009/07/09/the-abcs-of-making-risotto/

17 Comments on “Risotto alla crema di scampi (Risotto with Puréed Shrimp)”

  1. I am from Australia and had this dish when in Rome last year and asked the waitress for the recipe, I loved it so much. She was able to give me ingredients, saying that the brandy was the secret. I searched online and found your recipe which was perfect. Thank you so much for bringing back such happy memories from our travels.

  2. Hi Frank,
    I tried my hand at making the risotto alla crema de scampi today, almost on a whim. Your recipe was spot on and really easy to follow. As someone that lived in Rome and enjoyed perhaps one too many platefuls of this risotto, I have to say the technique and substitutes you recommended work very well. I went to Whole Foods but couldn’t find the crayfish and ended up using regular shrimp instead. By mistake, I used most of the fumetto in preparing the crema but it still worked out. I had to keep the arborio riso covered for a little while longer for it to cook fully. My family (one of my kids fancies himself as an Italophile!) really enjoyed it! Thanks and all the best, Victor

  3. Had this in Rome last week, we both raved about it and this recipe looks superb – thanks so much for posting it! Very impressed by your level of detail and specificity about scampi not being shrimp (many, many people don’t know that). Very excited to try it!

  4. Frank thanks for your continuous generosity of maintaining such rich website. I just cooked this risotto and is definitely one of the best risottos I’ve ever had. Keep up the great work!

  5. @Lyd, To tell you the truth, I haven't had this with gnocchi but I'd imagine that you would add more cream to 'lengthen' the sauce and the proceed as you would to sauce to dress the gnocchi with it. Gnocchi liquids readily so you need to be generous.

    @Amy, Thanks for trying this out and jif yiu gad to improvise, why not? That's part of the fun of cooking!

  6. Hi Frank, your website is amazing! When I was in Rome I had a Gnocchi con Crema di Scampi. It is now rated as one of my most memorable food experiences. I also had this, the Risotto alla crema di scampi which was also delicious but I'd really like to make the gnocchi so I'm wondering if you could suggest how I can adjust this recipe to suit the gnocchi, which as the name suggests is a thicker, creamier version of the sauce.

    Your help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

  7. Thanks…I'm always nervous about making risotto because mine comes out too undercooked or too squishy. I'm going to give this a try…maybe in my pressure cooker, which has been sitting on my counter waiting for me to be brave!

  8. Hi, Frank,
    I went back to the basics of making risotto to make sure that I did not miss a step. It was so funny that you mentioned cooking risotto with a pressure cooker. I just learned this year how to use one. Anyway, I was trying to make chicken biryani in the pressure cooker. The taste was fine but the texture of the rice was like risotto. If you get a chance, could you do a post on creamy polenta? You know in your spare time, between working and cooking for friends and relatives? -Tien:)

We'd love to hear your questions and thoughts! And if you tried the recipe, we'd love to hear how it went!