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If you have a baby you know how crucial grandmas are. They come over, help you
keep your sanity, babysit for a while and that's why when our moms come over I
like to treat them to something fancy — Seared Scallops and a Sweet Corn Risotto
that'll knock the socks off any grandma.
A risotto starts with sweet corn and I'm
gonna show you a really cool trick so I've got the corn flat here... I'm gonna
take off the kernels, without them going everywhere, just kind of go like this
and look at how I've reserved the cobs of the corn. I'm gonna put those into my
stock. So I've got these beautiful kernels of corn and I'm just gonna set them
aside for now. We'll incorporate them into our risotto a bit later, but what I
wanted to do is get these milky kind of cobs, lots of corn flavor, into the stock
that I'm gonna use to cook my risotto. So we take the cobs, press down like that...
I've got four cobs of corn here from my whole recipe and that will really incorporate
itself nicely into a low sodium veg stock, which you can buy anywhere. And just throw it into your stock here.
Now let's start our risotto. So any good risotto starts
with a little bit of olive oil and some shallot, even a little bit of garlic if
you have. Now, very important here to let it sweat. We're not sauteing the shallot
and garlic we're sweating it out. I want to keep it moving, I want a relatively
low heat and I just want to soften it without getting colour. What that's gonna
do is, as I'm cooking the risotto, the shallot and garlic will almost melt into
the rice. It'll give it a depth of flavour without being a pungent, kind of oniony
flavour. And now we can add our rice. So for any risotto you need a nice short
grain or Arborio rice is the best. Just like that.
This is not the time for basmati, you want a short, really starchy rice and
that's where risotto gets its creaminess, from when a short grain rice like that
releases its starch, it becomes creamy and beautiful — no need for cream in a risotto.
So now that my shallot is all sweated out I
go in with the rice. Maybe a splash more oil, I want to toast my rice here. It'll
get more nuanced, get nutty, you can season as well. We season in stages so
that everything has proper seasoning, salt, pepper and watch what happens to
the rice. Now give it just one minute to toast in this extra oil. Now my mom has
actually lost her mind, you know, that first time grandma, she forgets that
she's not the mother of this job. She will wrestle this thing out of my hands,
she's gone nuts. So the rice has been toasting for a minute, minute and change.
You can hear it, you can see it, now I want to show you what the rice looks
like when the edges become translucent. That's a good sign that it's well
toasted really aromatic and we're ready to continue just an extra minute now
I'll go in with the corn that have taken from our cob into the risotto you can
hear it also sizzle splash more olive oil doesn't hurt I always talk about
seasoning risotto in stages this needs salt and pepper too it's new
to the party give it like this and give it one second here to toast up as well
now for me every great risotto has a little bit of white wine at this stage
also don't forget that so get the white wine in there nice and always important
when cooking with wine to let it reduce sometimes people make dishes too whiny
it's really too acidic let it reduce almost down to nothing and don't forget
yourself too I can't forget me but let it reduce down almost all the way that's
one you know trick I always tell people when cooking with wine let it reduce let
it Mellow perfect so you can see that the white wine is reduced nicely the
rice is soaked it all up it's not too whiny I've got some great depth here and
now we can go with our first ladle of this corn veggie stock and of course
with risotto we go in stages I'm gonna give it enough stock let the rice soak
it up and then go with more so give it a few ladles
and and this is the thing about this risotto recipe oftentimes people think
that risotto takes an hour two hours is this laborious restaurant dish really
isn't you know this is gonna take us 20 minutes a nice short grain rice will
soak up all that corn stock in almost no time so keep stirring it and already you
can see that the stock is getting creamier from the rice the starch that
it releases getting creamier from the flavor that the cob has released it's
awesome when you have different flavor elements that tie into your dish using
the store-bought low-sodium stock is a great way to start but then the corn
cobs or if you have garlic cloves or bay leaves fresh herbs rosemary thyme these
are great ways to get a store-bought stalk to the next level so you have
depth of flavor so our first round of stalk has now been absorbed by all that
rice I can smell the corn the wine and this is what you look for when you draw
your spoon you can see the bottom that means the rice needs more stock so we
can go in with our second round of stock and let the rice keep drinking it up
slowly over time the rice will cook will soften and release its starch and you
can see how creamy it gets another thing I haven't been stirring continuously
sometimes people think when making risotto you gotta stand here and stir
for an hour in a row you know you stir from time to time make sure it's not
stuck on the bottom it's not this big bad thing you can just kind of gently
make sure you ever see a risotto that's plated on the plate and it stays firm
like like a rice pilaf I hate that the risotto should move it should be silky
and elegant and soft and buttery and so risotto is one of those things you see
on a menu time and time again and rarely is really good so check it out after our
second round of stock I see the bottom I've only been cooking for 10-15 minutes
in total it doesn't take that much time and I'm almost done I'm gonna give it
another round of stock and I bet you after round three maybe a little more
after round three our risotto will be done probably 20 minutes in total so as
I give it this stock to finish the cooking process we can
start to talk about scalps these are Canadian Scouts from Lee's coast
beautiful and I want you to sometimes you see this little muscle here that
attaches the scallop to the big shell that remove these bad boys here you see
and I want you to pat your scalp really dry you've got to dry your scallop
because a great scallop has a hard sear any moisture on the scallop will steam
and not give us Brown caramelization and then a good amount of salt and pepper on
each scallop and then of course I've got my skillet
here and I want it really roaring hot you're gonna know your skillets hot
enough when your oil is rippling glistening really really hot
spaced them out as well so that they're not touching I don't want to steam my
scout
and if you get a splat of oil in the I keep cooking it's okay it's for Grandma
oh you ready glisten beautiful look at these
that's the kind of seer you want in a scallop bursting with flavor golden
brown and because grandma has been so nice to us we're gonna get luxurious
once we flip it over I'm gonna base it in a little bit of butter let's get
fancy look little bit of garlic and then what you can do
put your beautifully seared scallops on one side here tilt your pan give it a
bath butter bath does a few things finishes
the cooking process and of course look how luxurious it is this is restaurant
quality food easy as long as we follow a few rules keep the scallop dry get a hot
pan a nice high C R and then we baste in butter to finish I don't want to
overcook my scallops I want it slightly translucent in the middle you can tell
from the touch it's not too too firm if I poke it and it's firm it's cooked all
the way through and it might be a little too tough let it rest now just on a
paper towel-lined plate it'll stay warm here while I finish my risotto but it
still got a little bit of give that way I know it's translucent in the middle
it's not cooked all the way through it's still tender really elegant leave those
here let's check on our risotto we're almost done it's beautifully cooked to
finish any great risotto a good amount of butter look at that that's restaurant
quality lots of butter okay with corn I love fresh tarragon they love each other
look and then of course every great risotto has cheese parmigiano-reggiano
into the rice and we're gonna stir in the fresh herbs the cheese the butter
this will tighten up our risotto a little bit so I want you to be aware of
that - I don't like risotto to stiff get all the butter mixed in and you know
what we're ready to plate well I don't know if my mother-in-law respects me
more but she at least sees what small value I provide when I cook nice food
for her this is what you're looking for it's not too wet not too dry the rice is
cooked perfectly it really is elegant look at this right
in the middle of the bowl and a great risotto should kind of wiggle when you
move the plate okay and now some scallops on top beautifully seared not
overcooked a little bit more cheese on top is great sometimes in a grocery
store you can find these little micro greens just for presentation kind of
restaurant style for Grandma and even a drizzle of olive oil at the end so rich
for any grandma out there this is the best way to say thank you so you know
what Cheers grandma's for helping us new parents get some sleep
enjoyed the dinner I'm going to sleep