This creamy risotto features lemon zest and juice, white wine, flavorful broth, a touch of cream and Parmesan cheese and topped with Lemon Pepper Shrimp!
Prepare all of your ingredients before starting to cook. Peel and devein shrimp. Slice shallots and mince garlic. Zest lemons (separately) and measure remaining ingredients.
In a small bowl, combine shrimp with zest from 1 lemon, and lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Mix well and set aside.
Making the Risotto:
In a sauce pot, combine chicken stock, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt, and pepper and heat it until simmering. Turn the heat down all the way to low so it stays warm.
Heat up a large cooking pan over medium heat and add olive oil and butter. Sauté onions until it starts to brown and add garlic. Sauté just until garlic is fragrant, add rice, and stir well.
Pour in the white wine and stir it to spread everything evenly. Let rice simmer and absorb the wine. Stir a little as rice simmers.
Lower the heat to medium-low, Once wine is absorbed, lower the heat to medium-low, stir, and pour in about a cup of hot broth. Stir and let rice simmer and absorb the liquid.
Continue to add about a 1/2-1 cup of hot broth at a time and letting the rice absorb the liquid before each addition. (Make sure to stir the broth in the sauce pot before adding it to the risotto to mix the seasoning that has settled to the bottom.) Remember to stir risotto often but not constantly.
When rice is almost done, add grated Parmesan cheese and heavy whipping cream to the risotto, stir, and let it cook just a few more minutes. Once risotto is done, take off heat and stir in minced parsley.
Cooking the Shrimp:
When you have about 5 minutes left in cooking of the risotto, that's a good time to cook the shrimp.
Preheat a large cooking pan over medium-high heat. Once preheated, add a little oil to grease the pan if needed.
Add shrimp to the pan, placing them side by side, not overlapping or overcrowding.
Let the shrimp sear for a couple of minutes, until turns pink and opaque of that side.
Flip each shrimp and add tablespoon of butter the the pan. Sear shrimp on that side for about a minute or two (depending on the size) until turns pink and opaque on that side as well. Take shrimp out of the pan as soon as it's cooked.