Creamy mascarpone, sweet crab meat, and wonderful baby peas combine together in this crab risotto to make a recipe which is both simple and elegant! This is one of those recipes you can have on the table in 30 minutes but tastes like you spent hours.
I love making risotto and I’ve shared a couple risotto recipes here, like my Sausage and Garlic Scape Risotto (which you should totally try now since it’s garlic scape season again!) and my Lemon Basil Risotto with Burrata (a great vegetarian risotto!), so it was only a matter of time before I came up with another risotto I just had to share with y’all.
Recently my husband and I were having a date night since our daughter was off on an overnight. We could have gone out, and have in the past, but we were in the mood to stay home, have a yummy dinner, and watch a movie. I don’t remember which movie we watched, but I do remember this crab risotto and making strawberry shortcake for dessert. There is a reason that talking about food is my job and not reviewing movies. 🙂
That evening we were actually going to have my lobster risotto (which is so good!), but weirdly enough I can’t seem to find frozen lobster meat around here right now. That’s weird, right?
I’ve never had that problem before! Once I do find it again, I’ll make my lobster risotto and share it; however, since I couldn’t find any, I had to rework our romantic dinner. I just happened to be the seafood department…you know since I was looking for lobster, and I saw the the lump crab meat. From there I thought ‘mascarpone, I need mascarpone for this crab risotto!’ and then over to get some chives and peas and finally to pick up some seafood stock to pump up the seafood flavor in the recipe.
*boom* We had dinner!
That first time I made it, microgreens weren’t in season yet, so you can totally make this risotto without the microgreens on top! However, they are a really fun touch if you happen to get your hands on some. If you have greens leftover you can use them to top just about anything else you’re eating. Grilled lamb chops? Add some microgreens! Making a spring Greek salad? Microgreens! Crispy potato skins? Microgreens would add a pop of flavor and color! They are also great in sandwiches, over soups, and on pizza.
As far as the risotto goes, you will want to gently fold in the crab meat and the peas at the very end. They just need to warm through and you don’t want to break up the crab too much. Once you spoon some yummy risotto onto your plate, get a handful of microgreens and arrange them on top so they don’t wilt.
And then it’s time to eat! Yum! 🙂
– Happy Eating, Annemarie
Crab Risotto with Mascarpone and Peas
Ingredients
- 2 cups low sodium or no sodium chicken stock, or vegetable stock
- 2 cups seafood stock
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 medium shallot, minced
- 1 1/2 cups arborio rice
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 1/4 cup mascarpone
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 8 oz lump crab meat, checked over for bits of cartilage and shell
- 1 cup baby peas, frozen
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh chives
- 1 cup microgreens, optional
Instructions
- Put the rice into a fine mesh strainer and place the strainer over a medium saucepan. Pour the chicken stock over the rice to wash the starch off the grains and into the stock. Add the seafood stock to the saucepan and put it on medium heat and bring it to a simmer. Once it's simmering, bring the heat to low and keep it warm.
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and shallots and saute until soft and golden, about 3-4 minutes.
- Add the rice and saute for 2 minutes, or until it smells a little toasty. Add the wine wine; simmer until absorbed, 1-2 minutes.
- Add the stock a ladleful or two at a time, stirring occasionally. Allow each addition to be almost absorbed (you don't want the rice to get dry and stick to bottom) and keep the rice at a very gentle simmer. The risotto will be done when you have used most of the stock and the rice just tender but not mushy, about 20-25 minutes. Taste the risotto and add more salt if needed.
- Vigorously stir in the mascarpone and butter until the risotto is creamy and thick.
- Then take the risotto off the heat and gently fold in the the crab meat, baby peas, and chives. If desired, top each plate with a handful of microgreens.
Notes
- If you can't find seafood stock, you can substitute clam broth or more chicken/vegetable stock.
- I used an 8 ounce can of pasteurized lump crab meat for the recipe.
- Since fresh peas aren't in season very long, I call for frozen baby peas. If you have fresh peas, add them just before you whip in the mascarpone and butter so they have a little time to cook. Unless you like them raw (since they are very good that way!), in which case add them at the end as the recipe indicates.
- You can find microgreens at specialty markets, farm stands, and farmer's markets. The ones I used were a spicy mix which gave the risotto a little zip while providing some crunch.
Tammie Wright says
on line 6 in the instructions you have, you clearly state “to finish the risotto stir in the pesto.” however there is no pesto listed in the ingredients. what kind and amount of pesto should I use? Thank you.
justalittlebitofbacon says
Oops! A stray instruction made its way into the recipe from elsewhere. I removed it and the recipe should be correct now.