By: Amie Simon | August 19 2010
Posted in Seattle - Cook It - Seattle

Cozy Seattle restaurant Cantinetta opened January 3, 2009 and has enjoyed a reputation for some of the best dishes in the city ever since. This Wallingford neighborhood favorite specializes in hand-made pasta and seasonal organic ingredients from the Pacific Northwest.

Photo: Amie Simon

Although Chef Tomer Shneor was busy getting ready to open a second location in Bellevue, I had a chance to talk with him and try some of his specialties for myself. Luckily, for readers of The Local Dish, he was generous enough to let us share one of his favorite recipes using an abundant seasonal ingredient: oregano, paired with locally sourced spot prawns from Lummi Island (in the San Juans), and zucchini.

Chef Shneor says the best oregano you can buy is Calabria or Sicilian Oregano that comes dried on the branch. The plant grows wild, and is picked, dried, and sold whole. It stays really green when cooked, and the flavor is very intense. He likes to use it because of its distinct flavor, which can come across as intense, or complementary, depending on how it's used.

This dish is on Cantinetta's menu right now, and will also be available at the new location through the first few weeks of September, while the Lummi Island prawns are still in season.

Photo: Amie Simon

Lummi Island Spot Prawn Risotto with Oregano Zucchini Salad
(Serves 4-6)

Ingredients

For the risotto
2 cups Arborio rice
1/2 cup white wine
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 small onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1 glove garlic, diced
4 sprigs thyme
1 bay leaf
5 cups vegetable stock
Salt to taste
Coarse ground black pepper to taste

For the prawns
8 spot prawns
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 teaspoon oregano
Salt to taste
Coarse ground black pepper to taste

For the salad
1 zucchini, julienned on a mandolin
1 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves
Juice from ½ lemon
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt to taste
Coarse ground black pepper to taste

To finish the dish
1 tablespoon oregano leaves
2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper

Directions
To prepare the salad, slice zucchini on the mandolin, then toss with oregano leaves, lemon juice, olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste.

To prepare the risotto, put vegetable stock on to boil. Melt the butter and the olive oil together over high heat in a large pot. Add onion and sweat until really soft, about 2 minutes, stirring as needed so they don't color or brown. Add the Arborio rice to the onion-butter-olive oil mixture and mix well, so all the rice grains are coated, about 1 minute.

Add white wine to the rice mixture and continue cooking, stirring constantly to ensure that none of the rice sticks, until the wine has been completely absorbed and the rice is soft but not sticky, about 1 minute.

Add 3 cups of the boiling stock, and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the rice is al dente, just beginning to cook through, and the stock has evaporated (about 7 minutes). Add the remaining 2 cups of stock and continue to cook, stirring well and often, until the rice has absorbed most of the liquid and become a thick, liquidy stew – another 7 to 8 minutes or so.

To prepare the prawns, heat a large sauté pan. When hot, add olive oil. Remove from heat and add spot prawns to the sauté pan, then return to heat and season with salt and pepper (this step will ensure that the oil will not splatter on you), cook for about 1 1/2 minutes on both sides, depending on prawn size. Add butter and oregano leaves to pan, turn off heat and let the flavors blend.

To finish the dish, remove the risotto from the heat and add butter, oregano, and salt and pepper. Mix well, so the flavors become rich and well combined. If the risotto is too thick for your taste, add a little leftover stock.

Serve in individual bowls, topped with the zucchini oregano salad and roasted spot prawns.

A note about the prawns: You can de-shell them if you like, but the restaurant serves them with the heads on, so guests can tear off the head and squeeze all the flavorful juice from the prawn's head on to the risotto for more flavor -- I'm usually a little squeamish about that sort of thing, but I did as Tomer recommended and reveled in the extra deliciousness!

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