Lets Call This Dish The Marco Polo - When East Meets West

Most of us know the story of Marco Polo - gone 24 years discovering Asia only to return to become imprisoned then released and became a wealthy merchant - but I don't think most knew he was a Virgo. Lets be clear that he was not the first to discover Asia but he was the one to leave the most detailed chronicles. I don't think anywhere in his writings will you find this delicious wild mushroom risotto with garlic shrimp and snow peas.

I went out to Chinatown today with one thing in mind - get what looks fresh and come home and make a nice lunch for a rainy New York Saturday. 

These big fat shrimp caught my eye and snow peas for a 67 cents a pound is always a nice price. I didn't want to just go the traditional route with steamed rice and I knew I had some dehydrated wild mushrooms and some Arborio rice so a meal was born.

A couple of pounds or so of snow crab can't hurt either. A dozen raw oysters were also knocked back but after I jabbed myself with the oyster knife I didn't feel like glamorizing those mollusks not one little bit.

So there you have it - just think of me as a modern day Marco Polo.