I’m sure many of you have already drunk the Earl Grey tea with bergamot flavor, and if you like that then probably you will love also this recipe 🙂

Bergamot is a very unique and very fragrant fruit of the citrus family, it is mostly used for its essential oil for flavoring, but also for body products. To find the fruits it’s not so easy because it’s a relatively small production and most of people probably don’t know how to use it. But recently I managed to find the fruits here in Budapest too, so I immediately bought it 🙂

I’m going to show you now a simple recipe where I paired it with fish, which is a classic use of citrus fruits.

I used a freshwater fish, the very good European perch from local Balaton lake, but you can use also other delicate fish.

Let’s see.

 

INGREDIENTS (2 people):

• 140 g rice, Carnaroli or Vialone Nano
• 160 g European perch fillets
• half of the juice of a small bergamot
• half of a small onion
• half glass of dry white wine
• 40-50 g of butter
• vegetable broth
• the zest of the bergamot

 

1. First of all make fillets from the fish, remove the bones and cut it into small cubes. And prepare in advance a vegetable broth if you don’t have it (with the usual, onion, carrot, celery, etc.).
2. Take a pan, heat half of the butter and then slowly cook the onions (cut very small), until soft.
3. Meanwhile take a cocotte/pot, heat it and when it’s hot add the rice, with no fats. We have to toast it for 2-3 minutes, keep it moved with a wooden spoon (or simply make it “jump” by moving the pot) every 20-30 seconds and when you cannot no more touch the rice with your hands and you see that the grains have become a bit shiny/transparent then it’s toasted. This is the moment to add the white wine, keep the heat higher until the wine has reduced. Start counting the time from now, in 15-16 minutes a Carnaroli rice will be ready, read the package too. Add also the bergamot juice.
4. When the alcohol has gone add a couple of ladles of hot vegetable broth and the soft onion.
5. After the first 5 minutes, add the fish.
6. Keep cooking at medium heat and keep adding broth when it’s needed, the rice must always have enough liquid.
7. When the rice is ready, switch off and add the remaining butter, mix gently, add the bergamot zest and let it rest for a couple of minutes.
8. Serve it, add some more bergamot zest for decoration, and enjoy the unique freshness and perfume of the bergamot 🙂