With mixed seafood, crisp tender asparagus, herbs, mushrooms and cheese, this Italian-style baked brown rice risotto is super creamy, comforting, healthy and delightful.
Ah risotto. Such a beloved dish! Risotto is a classic Italian dish that is posh enough to be served at fancy restaurants as the starring attraction, standing on its own, yet at its core, it’s a very low-cost recipe, made special by time, attention and love. It’s one of those dishes I love so much, I bought a cookbook entirely devoted to just risotto.
Other cuisines might use the term “risotto” loosely, but Italians hold a special reverence for this dish. Traditional Italian risotto is usually made with a special short-grain starchy rice (typically Arborio, but Vialone Nano and Carnaroli are also used), chosen for the ability to make a creamy sauce, simply using the starch in the rice, stirred out through the cooking process. Brown rice is not typically one of the “chosen” rices for risotto, as it has a much longer cooking time, but it IS possible to make risotto with brown rice, even though brown rice takes much longer to cook.
Why brown rice?
Unlike white rice, brown rice only has the hull (a hard protective covering) removed, leaving the nutrient-packed bran and germ, so brown rice retains the nutrients that white rice lacks incuding important vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. It’s also a good source of fiber, folate, thiamin, niacin, riboflavin (B2), potassium, calcium and manganese. Manganese is vital for many important processes in the body, such as bone development, wound healing, muscle contraction metabolism, nerve function and blood sugar regulation.
Brown rice also contains phenols and flavonoids, a class of antioxidants that help protect the body from oxidative stress, so it may help protect against heart disease, certain types of cancer, premature aging and inflammation.
How do you make a classic Italian risotto with brown rice?
Like a classic Italian risotto, we start out by browning the rice on the stovetop, then bake it to cook the rice most of the way, then we finish the risotto with some stirring again on the stovetop. The browning at the beginning makes the rice taste warm and nutty and the final stirring is what gives this dish the classic Italian risotto creaminess. The baking in between … that is your time to rest and relax, perhaps enjoy a glass of wine. Get your ingredients ready for the next phase.
What types of seafood to use?
I used a combination of langostino lobster tails and small bay scallops, but you can mix and match to use whatever seafood you like in this dish. Shrimp, crab, salmon, even oysters, clams, squid, crab or any other type of seafood that you like is fair game (just remove any shells, scales, bones or skin before adding!) I used pre-cooked seafood in mine, so if your seafood is fresh, you’ll want to cook it before adding (or cook it in the finishing process).
Do you have to add seafood?
Actually, no. You can make this as an asparagus mushroom risotto and stop right there without adding any meat or seafood. You can even leave out the cheese, making it entirely vegan. I mainly added the seafood to make this more of a “main” dish and (possibly more importantly, in my world, anyway) to use up some of the seafood I’ve bought on a whim in the past that needs to get used up before it gets “burned” by the freezer. I used frozen, pre-cooked langostino lobster tails and little bay scallops but I know that shrimp goes well with this dish too because I’ve made a shrimp & asparagus risotto and it was superb.
I expect this risotto would also be marvelous with salmon, chicken or even ground beef, bacon or sausage. Make sure your additions are pre-cooked and have any shells or bones removed, but aside from that, go ahead and play, make this recipe your own!
Print
Seafood & Asparagus Baked Brown Rice Risotto
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons butter or olive oil, divided
- 1 large onion, peeled and chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
- 3/4 cup brown rice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups low sodium chicken, fish or vegetable broth
- 8 oz. fresh mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
- About 2 cups chopped asparagus (8.5 – 9 oz.)
- Trader Joe’s 21-Seasoning Salute or your favorite no-salt seasoning
- 1/4 cup white wine + 1/2 cup water
- 1 1/2 – 2 cups pre-cooked, chopped seafood of your choice
- About 2 Tablespoons EACH: fresh snipped chives and tarragon (or other fresh herbs)
- 1 teaspoon EACH: Old Bay Seasoning and dried dill
- 2 – 4 oz. sharp shredded Italian cheese such as Parmesan, Romano or Asiago
- Salt & freshly ground pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 F. In an oven-safe saute pan over medium heat on the stovetop, melt 1 Tablespoon butter (or oil), then stir in the onion and garlic and saute until the onion is soft & translucent. Add the rice and cook, stirring frequently until the rice is browned, toasted and fragrant. Add the salt & broth, stir, then cover and bake at 375 F for 1 hour. If the rice is still hard, bake another 20 minutes until it is mostly done.
- While the rice is cooking, melt the other Tablespoon of butter or oil over medium heat in a frying pan. Add the mushrooms, season generously with seasoning, then cover and cook for about 5 minutes, uncovering to stir occasionally. When until the mushrooms are brown, tender and juicy, stir in the asparagus. Cook just briefly, then remove from heat.
- Set the rice pan back on the stovetop over medium heat and uncover. If any liquid is left in the pan, cook and stir until most of the liquid is gone. Then add 1/4 cup wine, stir and cook until liquid is almost gone again. Repeat with 1/4 cup hot water, stirring until the liquid is mostly gone and repeat with another 1/4 cup of hot water, stirring all the time. As you stir, the “sauce” on the rice should start to become creamy.
- When the rice is tender and the liquid is cooked down, stir in the seafood, herbs, seasonings, and asparagus/mushroom mix. Cook until hot, then stir in the cheese. Taste and add salt &/or freshly ground pepper to taste. Serve hot and enjoy!
Notes
© Copyright 2020, Sumptuous Spoonfuls. All images & content are copyright protected. I love it when you share, but please do not use my images on your own site/page without prior permission. If you want to publish any of my images, please ask first. Sharing, pinning, and tweeting is always appreciated as long as the shares and pins link back to here for the recipe. If you want to republish this recipe as your own, please re-write the recipe in your own words or link back to this post for the recipe.
1 comment
[…] Shrimp, Asiago & Asparagus Risotto with fresh dill – or try my baked brown rice version: Seafood & Asparagus Baked Brown Rice Risotto […]