Clelia Furlan's Saffron and Scampi Risotto

Clelia Furlan did a takeover on the Lecker instagram introducing followers to the varied delights of the food of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Here is one of her family recipes.

Before I was born, my parents went on a legendary holiday to Spain to see the usual sights, go to a couple of flamenco shows, and of course sample the local cuisine. They came back with a fair bit of saffron they had no idea how to use, so they had to come up with a plan of their own. After some rumination, my mum had a stroke of genius: she combined her memories of paella with the spirit of a Milanese “risotto giallo”, which is usually made with saffron and ossobuco (cross-cut veal shanks). She switched out the ossobuco for some scampi (meaning fresh langoustines, not the eponymous dish that includes them!) and thus her saffron and scampi risotto was born! It is one of my absolute favourite dishes and usually the first meal I ask for whenever I go back to Italy. It’s also not super difficult to make – see below for the recipe!

WARNING: this dish lives and dies by the quality of its saffron, which is famously the most expensive spice in the world – 1 g will be around £10–11, but you will only need a few stems for your risotto so the smallest possible package can potentially see you through quite a few meals! After a series of disappointments, my mum refuses to use any saffron other than the original Azafran de la Mancha TM, just like the one she bought in Spain all those years ago – she regularly instructs friends and relatives to bring some back from their holidays whenever they visit the Iberic peninsula. (Cue a very hungover 19 year old me & a bunch of very hungover friends frantically running around Ibiza airport trying to find at least a tiny pot of the stuff before our flight back to Italy. We were miraculously successful in the end!)

 Recipe

 Step 1: cut off the scampi heads and claw and put them in a pot of cold water, then bring to the boil and add salt. Let simmer for 20-30 minutes.

Step 2: prepare the rest of the scampi by removing the carapace, like so:

Step 3: gently grind the saffron (about 0,5g for 2 people) with a mortar and pestle

Step 4: add a bit of boiling water from the scampi head pot.

Step 5: heat up about a tablespoon of olive oil and a crushed clove of garlic in a pot. Add two fists of risotto rice per head + one for the pot and stir in for about a minute. Then add about half a glass of white wine (optional but recommended!)

Step 6: add the saffron with its water, then enough water from the scampi head pot to cover the rice. Cook for about fifteen minutes until the rice has softened; keep adding boiling water as required and make sure to keep stirring the rice to avoid it sticking to the pot!

Step 7: meanwhile, prepare the actual scampi: lightly fry in a pan with some olive oil and another clove of garlic.

Step 8: combine the rice and scampi once ready. Enjoy!