1/3 cup of arboreal rice

1/2 lb jumbo scallops

2 medium Anaheim peppers

1 delicate, thin skinned, small red bell pepper

1 medium green bell pepper

1 cherry pepper (???)

(The peppers in my case all came from my garden. All were fairly mild.)

1 bottle of clam juice

1/4 cube of butter, sliced into four squares

Grated parmesan cheese

Olive oil

A pinch or two of saffron

Water

Salt

Pepper

Makes two portions. (Or one nice large portion when I’m eating it.)

Cut the peppers into quarter inch squares.

Add the clam juice and an equal amount of water to a small sauce pan and put it over medium heat. (In my case I thought I was going to run out of liquid and added some more clam juice. It wasn’t necessary.)

Add olive oil to a saucepan or wok (I use a cast iron wok) and put it over high heat until it smokes. Add the rice. Keep stirring until it is slightly browned. If there is a pool of olive oil left you can wad up some paper towel and sop it up out of the pan. Turn the heat down to medium. (With a cast iron wok you may need to do this before the rice is completely browned.)

While you are working on the rice add some olive oil to a small frying pan and turn it on high.

Add some of the clam juice/water mix to the rice. Stir. Keep stirring for the next twenty minutes. Add the saffron to the rice. The idea with risotto is to add a little liquid at a time and to let the rice absorb it and the starch from the rice to create the creamy risotto sauce as you go. So, as you are following the rest of this recipe keep stirring the rice and adding a little liquid every time it seems that the rice has absorbed most of what you have already added. Add a little salt and pepper.

Once the oil in the small frying pan has just started to smoke add the peppers and saute them, constantly turning until you are at about the twelve minute mark of stirring the rice. At that point add the peppers to the rice mixture. Keep on stirring the rice and adding liquid as it incorporates.

Add more olive oil to the frying pan and turn it on high. When it is smoking and very hot add the scallops. Keep tossing and browning them on all sides for about five minutes.

At about the twenty minute mark on the rice add the scallops. Turn off the heat. Add the butter, a square or two at a time, and stir to incorporate. Add some of the parmesan cheese and stir it in.

Scoop the rice into a bowl and sprinkle some parmesan cheese on top.