seafood risotto

This is a really lovely risotto. I absolutely adore seafood The end result is a very creamy dish with lovely flavours coming through at every mouthful. I did not make my own stock. Instead I used bouillon which is a vegetable stock with no artificial additives, no gluten. So instead of all the stock preparation step below I boiled my stock and added the fish. After approximately10 min I removed the fish and flaked it. I also did not have to put the stock through a colander for obvious reasons. The rest was as described below. I have omitted the addition of a glug of olive oil at the end as I felt it to be unnecessary as well as the extra spoonful of stock once the risotto had been divided between the plates. My risotto was already creamy enough.
The recipe was taken from Jamie Oliver's JAMIE'S ITALY. A book that is full of wonderful recipes and to whom watched his show on TV where the whole trip was filmed it will bring all these memories from scenes shown.

1.5 litres water (3 pints)

2 small carrots roughly chopped

3 tomatoes squashed

1 bay leaf

A small bunch of fresh parsley, one sprig left whole, remaining leaves picked and finely chopped

1.5 kg mixed seafood, scaled, cleaned, gutted, if using mussels they should be debearded

400g risotto rice

2 tablespoons of olive oil

A knob of butter

½ bulb of fennel, finely chopped, herby top removed and reserved

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

A pinch of crumbled dried chilli

A pinch of saffron strands

Juice of 1 lemon

50g butter

If you are going to prepare the stock from scratch put all the water into a large pan with the carrots. Tomatoes, bay leaf and whole sprig of parsley. Bring it all to boil, adding the whole fish to it and leaving the shellfish out. I used a beautiful peace of salmon I had. Simmer for 10 minutes, then remove each fish from the pan and flake the flesh away from the bones. Put the meat on a plate and reserve. Return the bones to the stock to simmer for another 15 minutes. This will add great flavour to your stock. Skim any froth from the surface. Pass the stock through a colander into another pan and throw away the vegetables bits as well as the fish bones. Return the pan with stock to a low fire

Start the risotto by putting olive oil and knob of butter on a pan. Once it is melted add the chopped fennel, fennel seeds, dried chilli and saffron strands and cook very slowly stirring until the fennel bits have softened. Add the rice and put the heat up. Keep stirring all the time until the rice is translucent. Then start adding ladles of the stock to the rice, always stirring. Once the amount added is nearly all absorbed add another ladle full. When the rice is nearly cooked add the shellfish and flaked fish. Stir for a good 3-4 minutes until all the shellfish is cooked (the mussels will have opened up). Remove from the heat and add the butter, check the seasoning and add the lime juice. Divide the risotto between the plates and sprinkle with the remaining parsley and reserved fennel tops.