Cooked for two in our household on a cold week is when this dish earns its place. Fair Seafood tiger prawns come out of the freezer, and my homemade fish stock gets steeped with saffron until it turns a deep amber colour before it goes anywhere near the rice. A splash of Clare Valley Riesling goes into the base – I like Riesling, and it’s local, so that’s reason enough. The rice steams on its own, which buys me time to get the prawns right at the very end, seared hard and fast while the risotto rests and comes together on low heat. A couple of frozen cubes of my crustacean stock go in at that same stage, and the heads and shells go straight into the freezer bag for the next batch. Leftovers are the next day’s lunch, or arancini.

⏱️ Preparation Time: 20 minutes
🍳 Cooking Time: 30 minutes
🍽️ Serves: 6

👩‍🍳 Cooking Method: Steam Oven or Combi Oven, Induction or Gas stovetop

📝 Ingredients:

• 450ml Geoff’s Fish Stock (prepared ahead), warmed or quality shop bought
• 300gm Carnaroli rice (I like to use Ferron)
• 3 tiger prawns or 5 smaller Spencer Gulf prawns per person, peeled, tails on. See Note*
• 1 generous pinch (approx. 0.5gm) saffron threads
• 90ml Clare Valley Riesling
• 100gm unsalted butter, divided
• 4 shallots (approx. 100gm), finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 180gm peas, fresh or frozen
• 60gm parmesan, finely grated, divided
• 1 lemon, peeled into strips and juiced
• 3 x 20ml frozen cubes Geoff’s Crustacean Stock, thawed and warmed
• 20gm butter or a little oil, for searing the prawns
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• Chives or flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped, to finish

👩‍🍳 Method:

1. Warm the fish stock in a saucepan on induction setting 4 (gas low–medium). Add the saffron threads and steep for 10 minutes, or until the stock turns a deep amber colour. Keep warm.
2. Melt about a third of the butter in a frying pan on induction setting 6 (gas medium). Add the shallots and garlic and cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until soft and translucent.
3. Add the Riesling and reduce until almost evaporated, about 2 minutes.
4. Transfer the shallot mixture, rice, lemon peel and saffron stock into a non-perforated steam container. Place in the steam oven and steam at 100°C for 18 minutes.
5. With 5 minutes remaining, place the peas in a small steam container. Stir about a third of the remaining butter and a third of the parmesan through the rice. Return both containers to the steam oven for the final 5 minutes (18 minutes total), so the peas warm through alongside the rice. Alternative: on the cooktop, cook the rice on induction setting 6 (gas medium), adding the stock a ladle at a time and stirring, for 15-18 minutes; in the final 5 minutes, warm the peas separately and stir them through with a third of the butter and parmesan as above.
6. Remove the rice and peas from the steam oven. Remove your lemon peel strips and place the tray on induction setting 2 – this is your resting and emulsifying stage. Stir through the remaining butter, remaining parmesan and the warmed crustacean stock and lemon juice to taste, loosening with a splash more stock if needed until the risotto spreads on a plate rather than holding a mound. Leave it resting gently here while you cook the prawns.
7. Pat the prawns dry and season with salt and pepper. Heat the reserved 20gm butter (or a little oil) in a separate frying pan or teppanyaki plate on induction setting 7-8 (gas medium-high). Sear the prawns for 1-1½ minutes per side until pink and just cooked through – this is the last thing you do, timed to finish as the risotto’s ready.
8. Divide the risotto between plates, top each serve with three prawns (or five, if using the smaller Spencer Gulf prawns), and scatter with chives or parsley.

🥣 Serving Suggestions:

1. Serve straight from the pan, family-style, or plated individually with the prawns fanned across the top.
2. A green salad with a sharp vinaigrette cut through the richness.
3. Crusty sourdough on the side for anyone who wants to mop the plate.
4. Wine: the same Clare Valley Riesling used in the dish – it’s already proven itself in the pan.

📝 Notes:

• Peas can be swapped for roughly the same weight of pureed roast pumpkin, stirred through at the same stage – leftover roast vegetables from the night before work well.
• Ferron Carnaroli is the rice I reach for here – I use it because I trust it, not because another risotto rice won’t do the job.
• Truffle butter, folded through only at the final resting stage – alongside the remaining butter, remaining parmesan, and crustacean stock, once the rice is out of the oven and off the heat – adds a bonus finishing layer, if you have it on hand. Start around 15% truffle by weight of the butter and adjust to taste.
• Sand crab or Goolwa pipis can stand in for the prawns if that’s what’s fresh that week.
• Cooking the prawns last, while the risotto rests on low heat, means they go straight from pan to plate without sitting and overcooking.
• Always plate prawns in odd numbers – three or five – it reads better on the plate than an even count, and I judge by eye for balance rather than weighing them.
• Leftover risotto keeps well and reheats gently, or reshape it into arancini the next day.

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🧊Storage:

Fridge Friendly Instructions:

Refrigerate in a glass container for up to 2 days or turn left overs into arancini instead.

Reheat gently in the steam oven at 100% steam for 5-6 minutes, or in a covered pan on the stovetop on induction setting 4 (gas low-medium) with a splash of stock or water to loosen, stirring often.

Microwave: reheat covered in 30-second bursts, stirring between, until warmed through – add a splash of stock if the rice has tightened up.

Freezer Friendly Instructions:

Risotto freezes adequately but the texture softens. Freeze in portions for up to 1 month.

Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.

🥗Nutritional – 6 servings:

• Calories – 430
• Kilojoules – 1,800
• Total Fat – 14gm
• Saturated fat – 8gm
• Monounsaturated Fat – 4gm
• Polyunsaturated Fat – 2gm
• Trans Fat – 0gm
• Cholesterol – 90mg
• Sodium – 380mg
• Potassium – 350mg
• Total Carbohydrate – 55gm
• Dietary Fibre – 3gm
• Sugars – 3gm
• Protein – 22gm
• Vitamin A – 15%
• Vitamin C – 12%
• Calcium – 13%
• Iron – 15% 

*The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie / 8370 Kilojoule diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie/kilojoule needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated.