Preparing a Risotto
Fall is fast approaching, which means the bachelor will look smashing in sweaters and sport coats.
Also, it means that it’s time again for big, heavy, red wine inducing food. My Favorite.
Risotto looks hard, but it really just requires a little attention and patience.
Risotto is a creamy, smooth dish of big, hearty rice, which is cooked with stock and wine and seasoned with anything from a mirepoix to mushrooms to whatever. This recipe is a good starting point.
Ingredients
- 2 cups Arborio rice
- 6 cups chicken stock (give or take)
- 1 cup cheap white wine
- 1-2 tbs. butter
- 3 tbs. olive oil
- 1/2 cup chopped white onion
- 1/2 cup chopped celery
- 1/2 cup chopped carrot
- 2-3 garlic cloves
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 tsp. salt
- black pepper to taste
- red pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
Getting started
Have your veggies chopped, your cheese grated, and your white wine ready to go.
Have your chicken stock simmering in a pot, with a ladle ready. If your chicken stock is homemade, be sure to bring it to a boil for a minute or two, then lower the heat to a simmer. If you’re using store-bought chicken stock, use unsalted. You want the chicken stock at a simmer, so when you add it to the rice, it comes up to temperature quickly, and doesn’t slow down the cooking time.
How to
Start by sweating carrots, onion, and celery in 1 tbs. of olive oil over medium-high heat. Season with one tsp. of salt.
When the onions have softened and become translucent, add 2-3 crushed cloves of garlic. Cook the garlic with the other vegetables ( a mirepoix ) for another minute or so.
Once the garlic has started to soften add two tbs. olive oil then add two cups of Arborio rice.
Stir the rice until the edges of the grains become translucent.
When the edges are translucent, you’re ready for the next step. Wine.
Pour 1 cup of cheap white wine over the rice, and gently stir so that all the grains are coated.
Adjust the heat down, just a touch.
The wine will start to simmer. Stir the rice once in a while, so it doesn’t stick.
Once almost all of the liquid has disappeared, add about 2 cups (2 ladles-full) of chicken stock to the rice, and gently stir.
Let the liquid simmer until mostly absorbed, stirring gently once in a while.
When the liquid is nearly gone, stir in another ladle-full of chicken stock.
There are many recipes which encourage you to stir all the time, never leaving your risotto’s side.
This is silly. You stir the risotto enough to keep it from sticking, and to make sure the liquid is evenly distributed. It’s not nuclear physics. It’s rice.
Continue adding chicken stock, and letting it cook into the rice, until the rice is al dente (tender, with just a little firmness in the middle). This will take about 20 minutes, and use just about 6 cups of stock. Maybe a little less, maybe a little more. It depends. Roll with it.
When the rice is cooked enough, stir 1 tbs. of butter and turn off the heat. Once the butter has melted, add the parmesan cheese.
Serve immediately*.
*Risotto actually keeps pretty well. It will ’set up’ though, and be less smooth and creamy. For fun you can press some into little round dishes or molds and make risotto cakes to add to any lunch box (you’ll still need a fork. It’s not a rice-krispy treat)