Baccalà Mantecato is a Northern Italian specialty and when I make it I poach the baccalà in milk.
So what to do with the left over milk?
I made a risotto. I like to be creative in the kitchen and I need to add that this is an invented recipe. And it worked extremely well.
I had two jars of baccalà flavoured milk, far too much to make a risotto, so I reduced it to concentrate the flavour.
I used this antique gadget given to me a very long time ago by a friend. it is called a milk saver. She used to find all sorts of treasures at the Stirling dump in the Adelaide Hills and this was one of them. It does work!
Just using the milk would not be enough to flavour the risotto. I wanted texture and more flavour and I had some of the Baccalà Mantecato left over in the fridge.
Ingredients: extra virgin olive oil, carnaroli rice, spring onions, bay leaves, thyme, parsley, grated lemon peel, the milk used to poach the baccalà, the left over Baccalà Mantecato and roasted almonds to spread on top.
Method is nothing out of the ordinary when making risotto.
Check the taste of the milk to see if it is salty and you may not need to add any more seasoning.
Saute the spring onion in the extra virgin olive oil, add the rice and coat it in the oil -at this stage you may like to add a little white wine and evaporate it. Add thyme and bay leaves and gradually add the milk that you used to poach the fish in stages, just as you would add stock when making a risotto. If you do not have sufficient milk you may need to add a little water. Remember that rice is supposed to be presented “all’onda”, as Italian would say. “Onda” means wave….all’onda is wavy, therefore the risotto should be moist, with waves on top and not solid.
Add the parsley, grated lemon and the Mantecato last of all and stir through. The Mantecato will make the rice very creamy.
Sprinkle with roasted almonds when ready to serve.
There are several recipes for baccalà on the web and also for risotto.
BACCALÀ MANTECATO (Creamed salt cod, popular in the Veneto region and Trieste)
