Recipe: Trattoria Marcella's Lobster Risotto

You’ve got your toasted ravs, sure. Gooey butter cake, OK. But when it comes to St. Louis foods, Trattoria Marcella’s Lobster Risotto tops the list, hands down. What other dish has achieved such fame without once appearing on a menu? The Komorek brothers first ran this elegant twist on the Italian classic as a 1995 New Year’s Eve special; customers have been asking for – and talking about – it ever since. “It just snowballed,” Steve Komorek said, “so we’ve just always been prepared to make it.”

Lobster Risotto Courtesy of Trattoria Marcella’s Steve Komerek

4 starter servings

½ small onion, diced
2 tsp. extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp. butter
½ cup sliced assorted mushrooms (shiitake, crimini, oyster)
½ tsp. chopped garlic
½ cup dry white wine
1 cup Arborio rice
4 ½ cups lobster stock (or clam juice diluted with water)
½ cup simple tomato sauce
5 oz. cooked lobster meat
1 cup fresh spinach
½ cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
Salt and white pepper to taste

• In a small saucepan, heat the stock until barely simmering.

• In a medium pot with 4-inch sides, lightly sauté the onion in oil until translucent. 

• Add the butter and mushrooms, and sauté until the mushrooms are soft. 

• Add the chopped garlic for a quick sauté. 

• When the garlic is just slightly toasted, add the wine and let it reduce by half. 

• Add the rice, 1 cup of stock and the tomato sauce. Cook, stirring constantly, until the stock has absorbed.

• Continue to stir over a low flame, adding stock as it absorbs, ½ cup at a time, until the rice has desired bite and texture.

• When the stock has been absorbed, all at once add the lobster, spinach and Parmigiano-Reggiano and stir to combine. 

• Season to taste with salt and pepper.