The European perch is one of my favorite fish, sure is one of the best between the freshwater fish, it’s part of the same family of the zander/walleye, and its fillets are completely boneless (and quite easy to make), so it’s perfect for many kind of recipes.

Risotto with European perch is a very common recipe from the Italian northern lakes area, there are some variants, of course, but this is one I particularly like.

And with this recipe we don’t waste anything of the fish, since with the heads and bones we are going to make a fish stock.

INGREDIENTS (4 people):

• 400 g of European perch fillets
• 320 g of rice (Carnaroli or Vialone Nano types, between the most common to find)
• 1 medium size onion
• fresh sage leaves
• 1 glass of dry white wine
• 50/60 g of butter
• salt

For the fish stock:

• 1,5 l water
• heads and bones of 3-4 fish
• 1 onion
• carrot, celery
• 2/3 bay leaves
• pepper in grains
• salt

1. First of all we prepare the fish stock, it has to boil at low heat for 45/60 minutes.
2. When the fish stock is ready, in a pan we start with the butter (the other half we will use in the end, to cream). When hot enough, we add the finely chopped onion.
3. In another pan we toast the rice at a high heat for 2-3 minutes, until it will be hot as you touch it and the grains shiny/transparent (the perfect temperature to toast the rice is 220/240 °C, that’s why is better in a second pan, otherwise we would burn the onion…or, if you don’t want to take a second pan, you can remove the onion and add it back later, after the rice has toasted and you set the heat lower). Then we add the white wine and we let it simmer at high heat until is reduced.
4. At this point, we add some fish stock enough to cover the rice and the onions too, and from now we will cook at a medium/strong heat, adding the fish stock when it’s needed, until the rice is properly cooked (about 15/18 minutes, but you have to read the package and try with your mouth). After 10/12 minutes we add the fish fillets, cut into small pieces (about 1 cm).
5. When the rice is ready, we control if the salt is enough, we switch off the heat and we add on the top the remaining butter, and we wait 2-3 minutes to cream, in italian “mantecare” (the traditional “Mantecatura” is with butter and Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Padano, but with fish we don’t usually use cheese).
6. We can decorate the dish with 1 or 2 fried perch fillets on the top of each serving dish (flour, egg, breadcrumbs and then fried in good butter for about 3 minutes on each side, with fresh sage too, until they get a nice golden color).
7. Enjoy with a good dry white wine 🙂

Calories (average man): 25′ running / 30′ cycling / 50′ wood cutting 😀

Calories (average woman): 35′ running / 40′ cycling / 1h05′ wood cutting 😀