A great family staple and a relatively easy dinner to put together. You can use your family's favourite ingredients to make it a true crowd-pleaser. The best piece of advice for risotto? Stir, stir & keep stirring!
Risotto is something which we cook quite often in my family. I grew up on risotto almost as much as I grew up on pasta. In the North of Italy in particular we are big fans of risotto and we have a few regional variations which are quite unique. Even though risotto is quite popular all over the world now, it seems Milan was one of the first cities to develop this product - Risotto alla Milanese (with Parmesan & saffron). If you are a food nerd like me, head over to https://www.gourmettraveller.com.au/news/food-news/the-story-behind-risotto-2838 to find out more about the history of risotto.
Yields 3-4 portions
Ingredients:
- 300g of arborio rice
- 1 cube of chicken stock (or vegetable stock) - 1.5 litres of boiling water
- 250g (1 punnet) of chestnut mushrooms sliced
- 1/2 white onion thinly chopped
- a pinch of marjoram
- a pinch of thyme
- a couple of leaves of fresh parsley
- salt & pepper
- a drizzle of olive oil
- 20-30g of grated parmesan (Reggiano or Padano)
Method:
Place a large skillet on medium heat, add the olive oil. Once the oil is hot, add the onion and gently brown. Add the rice and lightly toast.
Add a generous amount of boiled water to the skillet - crumble up the stock cube and add it, making sure it all dissolves into the liquid.
TIP Don't add all of your water at once, but keep monitoring the pan and add a bit at a time, whilst stirring constantly to avoid the rice sticking to the bottom of the pan.
Add the mushrooms and the herbs; keep adding the boiled water and stirring to cook the rice through. I cook my risotto for about 15 mins.
When the rice is a couple of minutes away from being done, adjust the salt & pepper and add some grated Parmesan - the grated cheese will mix with the remaining liquid and create a creamy texture to your risotto; without even using cream!
We call this action "mantecare" in Italian.
Serve with an extra grind of fresh pepper on top and some parsley leaves (optional).
Buon appetito!
Risotto is all about PATIENT STIRRING
Some extra
Risotto is really a great blank canvas as you can use a wide range of ingredients including seafood & meat.
Some of our family favourites are:
- Potato & rosemary
- Tomato & shredded braised beef (perfect to re-use some leftover beef)
- Radicchio & white wine
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