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Entertainment

Black risotto with cuttlefish recipe from ‘Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy’

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Editor’s Note — Tune in Sundays at 9 p.m. ET to watch all-new episodes of “Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy.” If you missed the Season 2 premiere episode where Tucci explores Venice, you can watch it now on CNNgo.

(CNN) — Venice is a magical, mysterious, romantic place — but let’s address the elephant in the room: It has a reputation for bad food. Too many touristy places serving frozen pizzas and spaghetti Bolognese.

Chef Giovanni “Gianni” Scappin, who was born and raised in the city, was excited to prove that stereotype wrong when Stanley Tucci visited the capital of the Veneto region in the second season of “Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy.”
Scappin is Tucci’s old friend and coauthor of “The Tucci Cookbook.” The pair met in 1996 when Scappin was the food adviser on “Big Night,” a drama about two brothers who run an Italian restaurant. Tucci was a writer and star in the film. These days, Scappin is head chef and co-owner of Cucina in Woodstock and Market St. in Rhinebeck in New York’s Hudson Valley.

So, what dish did Scappin choose to make with Tucci to showcase the best of the City of Canals and its surrounding lagoon? A Venetian classic: Black ink risotto with cuttlefish. Cuttlefish (seppia in Italian) is the cousin of the squid and the octopus.

The cuttlefish’s ink is a key ingredient.

“The precious ink is used to stain the risotto black, making the dish as theatrical as Venice itself,” Tucci explained.

Black ink risotto with cuttlefish is so great that it’s claimed by some neighboring countries as their invention. It’s impossible to know for sure who created the dish, but in the Venetian cookbook, the ink has been dry for a very long time.

(From left) Stanley Tucci and Chef Giovanni “Gianni” Scappin are shown in a scene from “Searching for Italy.”

Matt Holyoak

Black Ink Risotto With Cuttlefish

(Risotto al Nero di Seppia)

Make 4 to 6 servings

If you’d like to add tomatoes to this dish, peeled tomatoes work well, or you could try passata di pomodoro, or pureed tomatoes, available at Italian specialty stores or online at international gourmet food sites.

Ingredients

Extra-virgin olive oil

1⁄2 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup | 26 grams; alternatively, use shallots)

1 clove garlic, sliced, or left whole and then removed when cooking the cuttlefish

10.6 ounces | 300 grams cuttlefish, ink sacs gently removed and meat cut into 1-inch wide strips and/or squares

1 to 2 teaspoons | 5 to 10 milliliters cuttlefish ink (about 1 to 2 sacks, depending on size)

125 milliliters | 1/2 cup dry white wine

1 cup | 200 grams peeled tomatoes, chopped, or passata di pomodoro (optional)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/2 stick unsalted butter; plus more for serving (optional)

1 1/2 cups | 300 grams Carnaroli rice or Vialone Nano rice

4 1/4 cups | 1 liter fish stock, hot and not very strong

1 handful flat-leaf parsley, fresh, chopped

7 1/2 grams | 4 teaspoons Parmesan, grated (optional)

Instructions

1. In a medium saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat and gently sauté half of the chopped onion (¼ cup or 13 grams) until soft and slightly golden, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the garlic and cuttlefish along with the ink. Stir the cuttlefish for about 1 minute. Then add the wine and, if using, tomatoes. Season very lightly with salt and pepper. Lower the temperature and let simmer gently, covered, stirring occasionally and checking for tenderness, until the cuttlefish is soft, a total of about 15 to 20 minutes. If needed, add some more water to the pan to keep the mixture “saucy.” The cuttlefish cooking time depends on the size and thickness of the strips. If the meat is very tender, it can be cooked directly into the rice.

2. In a separate 2- or 3-quart stock pan with straight sides, sauté the remaining ¼ cup (13 grams) onion with the butter. Add the rice and toast the grains, stirring with a wooden spoon, just until the rice is hot and coated with the butter and onion, but has not changed in color, about 30 seconds.

3. Add 1 cup of the hot stock and bring to a simmer over low heat. As the liquid reduces, keep adding stock by the cup, stirring continuously. If the cuttlefish is cooked separately, add it to the rice halfway through cooking, after about 7 minutes. Continue cooking, adding a small amount of stock as needed, until the rice is al dente and the risotto itself is still wet but not too runny, 7 to 8 minutes more. Total time should be 14 to 15 minutes once rice is added. If stock is very strong in flavor, dilute with some water. Do not overcook the rice or it will become mushy.

4. Remove from heat, add butter, parsley, Parmesan and toss the rice energetically (see video) to create creaminess and a texture that is wavy (but not “splashy”). This style of risotto is called “all’onda.”

5. The dish must be served on a flat plate, not in a bowl, and eaten with a fork. Just before serving, add more black pepper and, if desired, a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil.

This recipe is courtesy of Chef Giovanni “Gianni” Scappin, head chef and co-owner of Cucina in Woodstock and Market St. in Rhinebeck in New York’s Hudson Valley.
For more recipes, travel tips and insight on Italian culture, sign up for CNN’s Unlocking Italy newsletter. This eight-part guide will have you packing your bags in no time.

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Entertainment

Stanley Tucci and John Krasinski spent Thanksgiving together

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The author of “The Tucci Cookbook” and host of CNN’s “Searching for Italy” is married to literary agent Felicity Blunt, while Krasinski’s wife is actress Emily Blunt. They’re brothers-in-law married to the British siblings.
“Happy Thanksgiving from my family to yours,” Tucci posted on Instagram, along with a photo of him with “The Office” star.
He included a TikTok video by user Alexa Shoen explaining that whenever she feels “stressed out about the weight of the world,” she feels better when she remembers the actors are related by marriage.

“John Krasinski and Stanley Tucci are both the American sons-in-law in the Blunt family,” Shoen says in the video shared by Tucci. “And that means there’s probably been a situation where — I feel better already — … they have, I don’t know, worn those paper hats that you wear on Boxing Day … and also that they probably have, like, shook hands while carrying a side dish they were bringing into a Thanksgiving dinner somewhere in America. It’s my deepest meditative practice.”

Their Hollywood connections run deep. Tucci starred in the 2006 movie, “The Devil Wears Prada” with Emily Blunt. He’s been married to her sister for nearly a decade after they met at the Krasinskis’ wedding.



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Entertainment

Stanley Tucci reveals he had cancer but was successfully treated

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In an interview in the September issue of Vera, Virgin Atlantic’s inflight magazine, Tucci said he was diagnosed with a tumor at the base of his tongue, and went through months of high-dose radiation and chemo.

“I had a feeding tube for six months,” he told the magazine, adding that the cancer is unlikely to come back.

CNN has reached out to representatives of Tucci for comment.

Earlier this year, Tucci headlined the CNN Original Series “Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy,” a six-part program in which he visited several regions of Italy, revealing the country’s history and culture through its most famous dishes.
Last year, shortly after many countries instituted lockdowns due to the coronavirus, the Oscar-nominated actor almost broke the internet with a video he posted on Instagram showing him making a Negroni for his wife, Felicity Blunt — a performance that had some labeling him a “sexy bartender.”

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Entertainment

‘Supernova’ review: Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci light up the end-of-life drama

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Firth’s Sam and Tucci’s Tusker have been together for decades, and they’re introduced on a cross-country trek in a beat-up old camper. It’s what amounts to a last hurrah, with Tusker having pushed his partner to perform a piano recital, stopping to see family along the way.

Both are keenly aware that the hourglass is running out on the life they’ve known. Tusker’s condition is gradually worsening, with occasional moments where he wanders off or struggles to articulate thoughts. He’s mostly fine now, but his inevitable deterioration — and the unwelcome prospect of “becoming a passenger” in his own body, as he says — looms like a shadow over them.

As for Sam, the trip is dogged by the fact that he’ll soon be a full-time caretaker, a role to which he has committed himself that nevertheless scares him. “You’re not supposed to mourn someone while they’re still here,” Tusker observes, summing up Sam’s uncomfortable plight.

“Supernova” isn’t a great title for a movie like this — it’s a crafty play off the pair’s interest in stargazing — although it’s oddly appropriate, since the two stars keep things watchable even when there’s nothing much happening, which is most of the time. In that regard, the film joins a long roster of end-of-life romances, in this case unfolding in what feels like slow motion.

Marking the second writing-directing effort from actor Harry Macqueen, this British production doesn’t bother with flashbacks or much reminiscing about the couple’s relationship. All that history comes in the form of casual exchanges and small gestures that reflect a lifetime together, as touchingly conveyed by Firth and Tucci, whose real-life friendship surely contributes to that shorthand. (The latter will be featured in a CNN food and travel show premiering in February.)

As understated as the movie is, the emotion of the situation comes through loud and clear. While the pacing might have benefited from a few more detours or details, the audience has a pretty good understanding of where this road began and where it leads.

“Supernova” is by any measure a modest production, but it accomplishes what it sets out to do: Creating a touching, low-key showcase for its stars, one that allows them to cast a bright light.

“Supernova” premieres January 29 in select theaters and February 16 on demand. It’s rated R.

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