Truffled Ricotta Risotto with Pan-Seared Scallops

Truffled Ricotta Risotto with Pan-Seared Scallops

May 17, 2018

Servings: 2

Prep: 15 min

Cook: 35 min

Total: 50 min

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Just about any dish we make with scallops has a special place in my heart, but the pairing of scallops with our truffled ricotta risotto was downright brilliant. A great date night dish and easy enough to throw together on a weeknight too - if you're ambitious that is!

By: A Wholesome New World

Ingredients

• 6 TBSP unsalted butter (5 TBSP for the risotto, 1 TBSP for the scallops)
• 1 shallot, finely diced
• 10 ounces frozen spinach thawed
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 ½ cup Arborio rice
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• ¾ cup dry white wine
• 3 cups vegetable stock (see below hack to make your own!)
• 1/4 cup fresh whipped ricotta
• 1 TBSP white truffle oil
• 3/4 lb fresh sea scallops, about a dozen, patted dry
• 1-2 TBSP olive oil
• Kosher salt and ground pepper for seasoning

Directions

• Step 1 Prepare your risotto. Melt 5 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in the shallot and garlic and cook until golden, approximately 3-5 minutes. Stir in rice and cook until toasted and golden, about 5 minutes.
• Step 2 Stir in the white wine and cook until absorbed, about 3 minutes. Next, slowly stir in your stock, about 1/2 cup at a time. Reduce your heat to medium low. Let the rice soak up the stock and stir every so often, until the stock has been fully absorbed and the rice is cooked through but not mushy, about 20 minutes. Cook your scallops during this step.
• Step 3 Season your scallops generously with salt and pepper on one side. Heat a large non-stick frying pan, add olive oil to coat the pan. Add the scallops when the pan is hot, but not smoking.
• Step 4 Place the scallops seasoned side down, arranging clockwise around the pan. When you put the first scallop down, start a timer for 2 minutes. Avoid overcrowding the pan if you can – you may have to cook them in batches, but I had just enough room for 12 scallops. Season the unseasoned side of the scallop (facing up) while the scallops are cooking.
• Step 5 After two minutes, flip the scallops (they should have a golden crust) and cook for 2 minutes on the other side. During this step, add the remaining tablespoon of butter to the pan and spoon the melted butter over the scallops. Transfer scallops to a plate and keep warm in oven, if making in batches.
• Step 6 Now finish the risotto – the liquid should now be fully absorbed. Turn off the heat and stir in the spinach and the ricotta until fully incorporated. Taste and add more salt, if needed. Drizzle with truffle oil and serve immediately, topping with the scallops.

We often get asked, how do you create a new recipe around one single ingredient? Where do you get your inspiration? While I will say it can depend on a lot of different factors (my mood, what we ate last night, what we actually have in our pantry…), it really comes down to being creative and keeping an open mind. The beauty of the “winging it” approach is that you never know what you’ll discover along the way!

Not every meal we wing is a success (don’t even get me started on my first time making falafel), but this is one of those recipes that exceeded my wildest expectations. These gorgeous scallops were on sale at Whole Foods, so that was clearly my starting ingredient (I can’t resist a good scallop when I see one!), but the rest of it truly didn’t come together until 10 minutes before I started cooking. I had this vision at first of doing scallops with a creamy spaghetti, but when I got home I realized we actually had no pasta besides fusilli.  So back to the drawing board…

Marc pulled the arborio rice out of left field, but I knew I needed vegetable or chicken stock to make a risotto and we were also lacking in that department. (This was a pretty pathetic day in our pantry!) When Marc suggested looking up vegetable stock hacks, I wasn’t really buying it at first, but then I decided – why not? A quick google search proved to me that making your own vegetable stock is a whole lot easier than I ever would have imagined. How did I do it? I literally scraped the bottom of our vegetable drawer (which sadly only consisted of one yellow onion, chives and ginger – I warned you we were low on pretty much everything!) into a pot with 4 cups of water, brought it to a boil and let it simmer for about 30 minutes while I started on the risotto. Clearly you don’t have to make your own vegetable stock, but it was actually a lot of fun – I’d recommend it!

Adding the ricotta to the risotto was definitely my spin on it (I’ve been going through a big ricotta phase lately!), the truffle oil was another brilliant contribution from Marc, and the spinach was really more for a pop of color than anything else – but it really does pair well. All in all, I was pretty thrilled with the final result and the final photos, so it was a win-win on all fronts. Hopefully you’ll agree with me! Comment below and let us know what you think.