Risotto

Risotto is a typical Italian dish made with rice. It represents one of the noblest and in the same time one of the most common ways of cooking rice in Italy.

Risotto originated in the Northwest of the country, in particular in Eastern Piedmont and Western Lombardy, where rice pads are abundant; it is therefore one of the pillars of the Torinese and Milanese cooking.

What is typical of risotto is the toasting of the rice before the broth is added; other dishes exist that are similar, but they should not be called "risotto" if the toasting of the rice is not performed.

Typical risotto recipes include "Risotto alla Milanese"; made with beef stock, marrow and saffron, or "Risotto al Barolo"; made with red wine, but thousands of variations exist, both with vegetables and meat and you can make up your own.

Typical Risotto Procedure

This recipe of Risotto with celery illustrates a typical risotto procedure. Of course the ingredients may vary indefinitely, as there are thousands of types of risotto, but the procedure will remain more or less the same.

Ingredients

100 g of rice per person, a red or green celery, onions (or scallion), garlic, extra-virgin olive oil, butter, Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, vegetable broth, good quality white wine.

Note: the rice for risotto should be from the Italian cultivated varieties Carnaroli or Superfino Arborio or Roma; other varieties will give a worse result; anyway avoid Basmati and above all avoid parboiled rice.

Procedure

Slice the onion, or even better the scallion and the thinnest parts of the celery, as much as you like, into small parts. In a large and flat frying pan make a soffritto with them, using the extra-virgin olive oil. A soffritto ("sub-frying") is a long frying procedure with a low flame, so that the vegetables will give flavour to the oil but will not get burnt. When the soffritto is ready, throw the rice in the pan. The rice will start to soak the oil and get dry, starting to get burnt a little and turning reddish. This is the toasting procedure.

Before the rice is burnt, that is when it is reddish, dry, but not brown, put the wine in the pan (one glass per each 100g of rice). The wine will immediately evaporate and in its turn soak the rice, giving flavour to it. Finally, add the biggest ends of the celery, sliced into little bits. The celery's juices will soak the rice too. Before the celery bits start to get burnt too, begin to add the salted vegetable broth, that you have prepared previously and are keeping in a pan at a near-boiling temperature.

Adding the broth little by little while the rice is cooking is the other typical action of risotto, alongside with rice toasting. The broth must cover the rice surface by no more than a thin one/two centimetres. When it is completely soaked, add more. Broth must boil gently, never quiet and never furious. Stir the rice as little as possible, always using a wooden spoon. Keep it flat on the pan.

So rice will cook soaking all the juices and fats you will add and keeping all its starch, which will give risotto its typical smoothness. To complete the procedure, a few instants before risotto is ready, when the last supply of broth has been absorbed, add a good slice of non-salted butter and a few spoonfuls (at your liking) of grated parmigiano reggiano. This last action is called "mantecatura". Finally, correct with salt and pepper to your taste.

When risotto is cooked depends mostly on your taste. If you want to keep faithful to the best Italian tradition, keep it "al dente" ("to the tooth"), that is don't turn it into a gruel, but consider it ready when grains are cooked, but still have a shape and give a little resistance to the teeth.