Rice with mussels, zucchini pesto sauce and bottarga

difficulty: difficoltà
time: 90 min
Ingredients for 4 persons:

320 gr. of carnaroli rice
20 gr. of butter
800 gr. of mussels
20 gr. of rosemary
400 gr. of green zucchini
100 gr. of fresh spinach
50 gr. of tuna fish bottarga
100 gr. of white wine
200 gr. of extra-virgin olive oil
30 gr. of onion
1200 g. of vegetable broth
Salt and pepper (as needed)

Preparation:

Clean the mussels and make sure they open in a sauté with oil, one clove of garlic and a cup of white wine. Remove the shells and filter the cooking liquid. Emulsify the cooking liquid with oil, salt and pepper. Cut two zucchini lengthwise. Dice another zucchini and eliminate the central part. Blanch the two zucchini in hot water for 1 to 2 minutes, let cool and dry them. Steam the remaining zucchini for about 20 to 25 minutes, flip the garlic and the spinach in a pan with a drop of olive oil. Eliminate the garlic and put the spinach in a blender together with the zucchini that had the centers removed, add oil, the pine nuts and blend until you obtain pesto, add salt and pepper. For the rice: place the butter and the same quantity of oil in a pan together with one chopped onion and toast the rice. Dash the rice with white wine and just before it has all evaporated, add the broth and continue cooking, when the dish is almost done cooking, add the mussels and the mixture of zucchini pesto, add the grated bottarga, the chopped rosemary and add salt and pepper to taste. N.B. add the salt after having added the bottarga because it is quite a salty product. Finish the dish with a few mussels and slices of bottarga.