Risotto
I felt this would be a perfect first post on my blog. This is so easy! After your first few tries… The trick is patience and timing. Plan on being glued to the stove for 20-30 minutes, and get a friend to help out at the end. This recipe is a combination of a few cooking sessions with my mom and a drunken Thanksgiving encounter with a celebrity chef. There are so many things you can add to this recipe. This version is the one I make pretty regularly for dinner parties. As a fun, non-traditional alternative, sometimes I’ll swipe out the traditional dry white wine (Sauv Blanc, or a good Pinot Grigio) with a Merlot or a Zinfandel. It produces a beautiful color, as well as a stronger taste and aroma of the wine. Lastly, at the end, you’re going to add whipped cream to the risotto. When you’re just about done, have a friend whip the cream for you so you can add it the heartbeat the risotto is ready
A few quick notes:
Rice - You’ll find Arborio rice at pretty much any grocery store, and it works perfectly. That being said, if you have a Little Italy or a gourmet grocery in your town, see if you can find Carnaroli rice. It stays al dente a little longer while cooking, so you run less of a risk of it getting too gooey (which to some people is a problem, I happen to love mushy risotto).
Wine - Don’t skimp on the wine. Cheap wine will always make your food taste unpleasantly medicinal. Don’t cook with anything you wouldn’t drink on its own, and never ever buy a wine labeled as cooking wine.
Prep - Read the whole recipe and prep each portion before you start on the rice. You’re guaranteed to burn the dish if you don’t prep properly before
Equipment:
3qt heavy saucepan
6qt heavy saucepan
Wooden Spatula
Ladle
Ingredients:
1 1lb bag Carnaroli or Arborio Rice
1 Bottle of Wine
32 oz. Chicken or Vegetable Stock
½ pt heavy whipping cream
1 large white onion - finely diced
4 cloves garlic - crushed
Salt & Pepper to Taste
Good Olive Oil
Prep -
Put the onion and garlic in separate bowls
Pour the bottle of wine and the stock into the 3qt saucepan and put the heat on low
Coat the bottom of the 6qt heavy saucepan with olive oil and turn the stove onto medium/low heat
When the olive oil is shimmering, add the onions - the heat should be low enough that they’re not sizzling, but just lightly cooking. If they sound like a fajita platter at Chili’s, don’t worry - just take the pan off the heat, lower the flame, and put the pan back on the stove after a minute or two
When the onions are translucent, add the garlic and a pinch of salt & pepper. Stir for about a minute.
Add the rice to the pan, and increase the heat to medium/high. Stir until the risotto is coated in the olive oil and you smell the starch coming off the risotto - about a minute or two
Add a ladleful of the wine and stock mixture to the risotto and begin stirring in a spiral motion. If you’re left-handed, it should be clockwise, if you’re right-handed, it should be counter-clockwise. Stir until the rice has absorbed all of the liquid, then add another pinch of salt.
Repeat this process until you’ve got about one ladleful of wine left. At this point, you want to taste the risotto - if it’s not ready, don’t panic - substitute water until it’s just about ready. Then for the last dose of liquid, use the last of the wine and stock mixture. Note: If you're pariring the risotto with something that produces a liquid (i.e. mushrooms, or a braised stew), you can use some of that liquid!
During the last round of wine and stock, have a friend beat the cream until it’s whipped. When the risotto is ready, remove from heat and add about ¾ of the cream to the risotto and stir in until it looks like every grain is coated with the cream. Use the rest of the cream for dessert
Alternatives
A lot of people like to add cheese to risotto - the trick to cheesy risotto is to add it once the risotto is done - add it after the cream. Adding it earlier will burn the cheese, and not in a delicious lasagne top kind of way, but more like a pizza parlor burning down kind of way.
I prefer to use Parmesan or Asiago, but pretty much any hard or medium cheese will work. Soft cheese seems like a good idea, but tends to be a little pungent for the average dinner party guest
For the picture above - I used some fresh Ramps and Morels I found at a local market for about half the price that they run at a fancy farmers market. I soaked them for 15 minutes in water to clean them, then sauteed them with olive oil and butter for about 10 minutes with fresh chopped garlic. Super simple!
If - for some odd reason - ramps and morels aren't available (That was a joke), Spinach or Kale and Crimini or Shitake Mushrooms cooked in the same manner work just great!
Pretty much anything savory goes well with risotto. A few things I've done with risotto in the past few months have included, Braised Short Ribs, Coq Au Vin, every cut of steak imaginable, any fish that can be pan seared or grilled.