Risotto

Cooking is many things and there is no singular rightness to it, no matter what kind of kitchen you keep. Our California kitchen is influenced by John's southern roots, my hopscotch upbringing, and a quarter century of New York City urban diversity and connoisseurship. I learned homekeeping, including cooking, from my grandmother, but it wasn't until I got on my own that my home, and my kitchen, became my own. As I explored New York's broad landscape of neighborhoods and cultures, my own cultural truths emerged. I was a city boy who still did home canning from the Oklahoma prairie. We celebrated Thanksgiving with Harlem high style and spent Saturday nights in the Village: raising pints in Irish pubs, deciphering sushi menus, gobbling pierogi and sauerkraut.

In our favorite red tablecloth joint in Greenwich Village, I learned that Italian food was more than pasta with red sauce. Here I had my first taste of livornese, the wine-bath of olives and capers served with red snapper or, most authentically (and alarmingly) eels, that means the coast to Italians just as surely as bouillabaisse means that to the French. I had simple luncheons of tortellini in brodo, still my favorite comfort food, and pillow-soft gnocchi tossed with gorgonzola and walnuts. I learned to appreciate the flavors of basil and pine nuts and peppers.

I still recall my first risotto. It was served as a half-portion as an appetizer, presented by a waiter with whom we had, by then, become chummy, after I asked him to bring me his favorite dish. It was creamy and toothsome at once, dotted with almost translucent discs of what I discovered to be asparagus. Just a hint of shaved Parmesan crowned the top in an act befitting the king of cheeses. It was a dish to eat slowly, to enjoy amid the tablecloths and wine bottles and waiter's vests as the culmination of free time that Saturday night is supposed to be.

Straightaway I made it my mission to learn to make risotto. Risotto is a common dish in Italian kitchens and like any such, while there are many ways to serve it there is one basic method to prepare it. Short-grained Italian rice, Arborio or Carnaroli, is sauteed in butter or oil and then cooked very slowly in replenishments of broth or stock. As the broth is introduced into the pot, the rice absorbs the liquid, softening but never quite getting mushy, releasing starch that thickens the broth as the rice cooks in it. Once you've made risotto a few times, you will develop a sense for when to introduce the liquid into the pan, and when to stop.

There is great pleasure and accomplishment in mastering a cooking technique. One of my first published weeknight dinners was risotto with mushrooms. We still make it, now with fresh California mushrooms. Make risotto for a simple weeknight dinner, for a showy accompaniment to roasted pork, as underpinning for braised or roasted chicken. But as you cook, remember that the key ingredient with risotto is patience. Risotto is slow food. It cannot be nor should it be rushed. The slow cooking process is meant to be contemplative, the final dish meant to be the reward. If that's not a cooking lesson, I don't know what is.

Risotto Bianco
This basic recipe makes enough risotto for two as a main dish or four as generous side. To splurge on white truffle oil be sure to get the real thing, not a synthesized version; click here for a good online source.

2/3 cup rice, Arborio or Carnaroli
1/3 cup dry vermouth
Chicken stock
1 shallot, peeled and minced
2 cloves garlic, peeled, split and pithed
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Extra-virgin olive oil
White truffle oil, optional
Two or three stems fresh herbs, such as thyme or oregano, optional
Grated Parmesan, optional

Make the risotto
  1. Measure 4 cups chicken stock into a saucepan. Place the pan on the stovetop and turn the heat to low.
  2. Drizzle a heavy saucepan with a five-count of extra-virgin olive oil. Swirl the oil to coat the pan. Place the pan on the stovetop and turn the heat to low.
  3. Add the minced shallot and a sprinkle of salt to the pan. Cook the shallot, stirring with a wooden spoon or silicon spatula, until it softens and releases its fragrance, approximately 2 minutes.
  4. Press the garlic into the pan. Stir the garlic into the shallot-oil mixture and cook until the garlic gives off its fragrance, approximately 1 minute.
  5. Measure the rice into the pan. Stir the rice and the shallot-garlic-oil mixture together until all of the rice grains are coated. Add another 2 count of oil to the mixture if the pan is running dry.
  6. Cook the rice-oil mixture, stirring constantly, until the rice begins to turn milky white and opaque.
  7. Once the rice is ready per step 6 above, slowly measure the vermouth into the pan with one hand while stirring the mixture constantly with the other hand.
  8. Stir the rice-vermouth mixture until most of the liquid has evaporated and the mixture is thick.
  9. Once the rice is ready per step 8 above, slowly measure 2/3 cup warm chicken stock into the pan.
  10. Stir the rice-stock mixture until well-incorporated.
  11. Check the mixture every few minutes, adding warm stock 2/3 cup at a time as the mixture thickens. Don’t let the pan run dry. You may need to warm more stock, as there is no sure way to tell how much stock the risotto will require as it cooks.
  12. The risotto is done when the rice is toothsome but soft, and the sauce is thick but not heavy. Total cooking time will vary, but is typically 30 – 35 minutes.
Serve the Risotto
  • Place a generous portion of risotto into a bowl. Top with several grindings of fresh black pepper, and a drizzle of truffle oil, fresh herbs stripped over the dish, or fresh Parmesan if using. Serve immediately. 
Risotto with Bacon. Sauté 8 ounces pancetta or guanciale in olive oil. Spoon the sauté, including the cooking oil, over the risotto before serving.
Risotto with Asparagus. Snap several stalks of fresh asparagus using the technique here. Cut the asparagus into bite-sized pieces. Saute the asparagus in olive oil with ¼ teaspoon hot pepper flakes until the asparagus is soft. Spoon the sauté, including the cooking oil, over the risotto before serving.
Risotto with Bitter Greens. Sauté torn leaves of radicchio, escarole, or broccoli di rapa with in olive oil with ¼ teaspoon hot pepper flakes, just until the greens wilt. Stir the wilted greens into the risotto before serving.
Risotto with Lemon and Basil. Zest a cleaned lemon. Omit the garlic and stir the lemon zest into the risotto at step 4 above. Juice the lemon and cut several leaves of fresh basil into strips . Stir 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice and several strips of fresh basil through the lemon risotto just before serving. If you wish, top with preserved lemon.
Risotto with Dried Fruit and Gorgonzola. Substitute 1 cleaned, dried, and minced leek for the onion in step 3 above. While the risotto is cooking, snip a handful of dried figs, apricots, or tomatoes to equal ¼ cup. Cover the dried fruit with warm water and soak while you finish the risotto. Once the risotto is cooked, drain the fruit and stir it into the risotto. Top with crumbled gorgonzola. 

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