Enjoy your special date night with Seafood Doria, an impressive yet simple Japanese rice gratin dish topped your choice of seafood over buttery rice with cheese.

Seafood Doria (Rice Gratin)

INGREDIENTS

• ½ Tbsp unsalted butter (7 g) (for greasing gratin dishes)
• 1 broccoli (small head)
• pinch kosher/sea salt (I use Diamond Crystal; Use half for table salt) (for blanching)
• Gruyere cheese (A small block for topping)
• 2 Tbsp panko (Japanese breadcrumbs) (for topping)
• Italian parsley (for garnish)

Butter Rice

• ½ onion
• 4 mushrooms (cremini or button)
• 1 ½ Tbsp unsalted butter (21 g; if you use salted, reduce adding salt while cooking)
• 4 bowls cooked Japanese short-grain rice (roughly 1.8 lb, 800 g)
• pinch kosher/sea salt (I use Diamond Crystal; Use half for table salt)
• freshly ground black pepper

Seafood & Sauce

• 16 manila clams
• 24 baby scallops
• 12 large shrimps
• 4 small calamari
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• ½ cup white wine (120 ml; or water)

Bechamel Sauce

• 4 Tbsp unsalted butter (57 g)
• 4 Tbsp all-purpose flour (plain flour) (30 g)
• 2 cups warm milk (480 ml)
• ¼ cup reserved seafood sauce (60 ml; see the instructions)
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tsp soy sauce

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Gather all the ingredients.

   

Preparation:

1. Butter the gratin dishes.
2. Using the tip of a sharp knife or hands, cut off the smaller stalks of broccoli from the larger central stalk to remove whole florets, rotating the head of broccoli as you go.
3. In a small saucepan, bring water to a rapid boil. Add a big pinch of salt. Add the broccoli florets and cook until crisp-tender, 1 to 1.5 minutes. Remove with a fine mesh and plunge immediately in the ice water to stop cooking. Drain and set aside.

Butter Rice:

1. Chop the onion finely and cut the mushrooms into thin slices.
2. In a large frying pan, heat 1 ½ Tbsp butter over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until tender.
3. Add the mushrooms and sauté till tender. Then add the steamed rice, break the big chunks of rice and combine well.
4. Season with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Divide the rice into 4 portions and transfer to the individual gratin dishes. Cover with aluminum foil and keep warm.

Seafood Mix:

1. Clean clams and scallops. Peel and devein shrimp if necessary. Cut the squid body into rings. Also cut the garlic cloves into thin slices.
2. In a large frying pan, heat 2 Tbsp olive oil and cook sliced garlic on medium heat until fragrant. Then add all the seafood into the pan.
3. Stir fry to coat the seafood with oil. Add ½ cup white wine and cover with a lid. Cook covered until all the clams open up.
4. Once all the clam shells are open (dispose of any unopened ones), season with freshly ground black pepper. Then remove all the seafood to a plate/bowl and cover with aluminum foil, set aside.
5. Reduce the remaining seafood sauce in the frying pan until the sauce is reduced in half, roughly ¼ cup. Keep the sauce in a bowl or measuring cup.

Bechamel Sauce:

1. In a large frying, heat 4 Tbsp unsalted butter on medium-low heat. Once melted, add 4 Tbsp. all-purpose flour to the pan.

2. Blend the flour with butter until no more lumps. Keep stirring to avoid burning the roux.

3. Gradually add warm milk, a tiny bit at a time. Combine the flour mixture and milk well, scraping the bottom of the pan, before adding more milk.

4. Once blended well, season with kosher salt. Add ¼ cup reserved seafood sauce and keep stirring to combine with the béchamel sauce.

5. Add 1 tsp soy sauce and mix well to combine. Keep stirring and cook on low heat until the desired consistency.

Assembly:

1. When the sauce consistency thickens and you can draw a line on the bottom of the pan, add the seafood.
2. Mix well and add the blanched broccoli.
3. Pour the seafood mix and béchamel sauce on the butter rice in gratin dishes. Make sure each one gets all the different ingredients.
4. Sprinkle with freshly grated Gruyere cheese and panko bread crumbs for crispy texture.
5. Set the oven setting to broil (high) and preheat for 5 minutes. Broil for 2-3 minutes until the cheese has melted and turns golden color on top. Garnish with parsley and serve warm.

https://www.justonecookbook.com/seafood-doria/