1.  Add the broth or water, 1/2 cup of the white wine and the bay leaf to a sauce pan and heat until the liquid begins to simmer gently. Cover the pan and keep the broth warm.

2.  In a separate large sauté pan, add 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil and the minced onion, celery and carrot. Sauté the mixture over medium heat until the vegetables begin to soften.

3.  When the vegetables in the sauté pan begin to soften, add the rice to the pan and continue sautéing the ingredients until the rice becomes fragrant and translucent.

 

 

 

4.  Once the rice is translucent, ladle a generous amount of the heated broth and wine liquid (about 1 1/2 cups) to the pan with the rice and stir well. Continue stirring the rice every few minutes until the rice has absorbed the liquid. Be sure to keep the heat at a medium to low temperature to ensure it does not stick to the bottom of the pan and burn during this process. Continue ladling the broth into the rice mixture and allowing the rice to absorb it until the rice is almost to the point that it cannot absorb any more broth.

5.  During this process and in another, separate sauté pan, add 1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil and the minced garlic. Heat the pan over medium high heat and sauté the garlic until it becomes translucent and fragrant.

6.  At that point, add the white wine and the cleaned seafood to the pan. Sauté the ingredients well for 2 - 3 minutes and then cover the pan, lower the heat to medium and let the seafood cook for another 5 minutes.

7.  When the seafood is almost cooked through, add the chopped parsley to the pan and stir to incorporate it throughout the seafood. Then turn off the heat to the seafood mixture.

8.  When the rice has absorbed almost as much broth as possible (it should be creamy and the last ladle of broth before it reaches capacity should take several minutes to be absorbed and noticeably longer than the initial ladles of broth), add the seafood mixture to the risotto and fold all ingredients together so that the seafood is evenly distributed throughout the rice.

9.  Taste the risotto and add salt and pepper to your taste.

10.  Remove the risotto from the heat, plate it and serve immediately.

Notes

- Discard any remaining broth and the bay leaf.

- Pre-cleaned mixed seafood is typically found in the freezer near the fish counter at your local grocery store.

- If you prefer to use fresh seafood, this dish will take significantly longer to make, but you have additional control over your ingredients. You will need 2 pounds of small clams or cockles in their shells, 2 pounds of de-bearded mussels in their shells, 1 pound of cleaned calamari chopped or cut into rings and 1 pound of medium shrimp, shelled and deveined. To remove any sand and grit from the clams and mussels: in a large mixing bowl add 3 generous tablespoons of salt. Place the clams and mussels in the mixing bowl with the salt. Fill the bowl with fresh, cold water to cover the shellfish. Mix well to dissolve the salt. Place the bowl in the refrigerator for 1 - 2 hours. After at least an hour, remove the shellfish from the water one by one and set aside. Do not dump the water with the shellfish still in it or the grit will go back into them. Once the shellfish are removed from the water, dump the dirty water. Refill the bowl with another 3 generous tablespoons of salt. Add the shellfish back to the bowl and refill with fresh water. Place the bowl in the refrigerator for another 1 - 2 hours and repeat this process 1 - 2 more times until you see little to no grit or sand in the water. When you are ready to cook the shellfish, remove the clams and mussels from the soaking water and rinse with fresh water. You will need to pre-cook the clams and mussels in order to open and remove them from their shells prior to combining them with the shrimp and calamari. In a pan with 2/3 cups water and a pinch of salt, add the clams and mussels, cover and cook them over medium heat until the shells have all opened. If the shells do not open after about 8 minutes of cooking, discard those shellfish as they are bad and should not be consumed. Once the shellfish have cooked, remove the pan from the heat and strain the shellfish from the cooking water. Let them cool slightly and then proceed to removing the clams and mussels from their shells and placing them into a bowl. When using this method for the seafood risotto, for step 6 of this recipe, add the uncooked calamari and shrimp to the pan with the white wine and sauté briefly. Cover the pan and let the shrimp and calamari cook for approximately 5 - 7 minutes. When they have almost finished cooking, add the clams and mussels to the pan and stir the ingredients together well. Then proceed to step 7 of the recipe.