Risotto is worth your time and patience
There are a thousand and one recipes for risotto. OK, maybe a hundred and one. There are definitely, at least, 51 variations. The point is there are so many recipes for delicious, rich and creamy risotto to tell you about.
“Rice is great when you’re hungry and you want 2000 of something.”
– Mitch Hedberg
The definition of risotto: An Italian dish of rice in stock with ingredients such as vegetables and meat or seafood. Yup. Sounds good to me. The first time I took a spoonful of risotto I was hooked. My taste buds didn’t know what to do. As a carb and comfort food lover, my taste buds jumped inside out with that first mouthful. The biggest taste bud happy dance I’ve ever experienced.
I can never resist risotto on a menu. It’s an instant foodie swoon.
I hope I’m not alone here foodie friends. If so, my love affair with risotto may need an intervention. Actually, scrap that, I’m going to let risotto swoon you, too.
There’s everything from mushroom risotto, shrimp and Swiss chard risotto, barley squash risotto, parmesan risotto, baked risotto with fennel, crab with spinach and peas, vegetable risotto, chicken with beans and kale risotto, sausage risotto and more.
What I love about making risotto, aside from the creamy richness, is that you can put anything in it. There’s no rule. Make it to your liking.
“When baking, follow directions. When cooking go by your own taste.”
– Laiko Bahrs
You can put in whatever you have on hand. Case in point, while waiting to pick up my online grocery order in a few days I decided to utilize bits and bobs from my fridge. I’m going to turn my broccoli and cheese into a delicious risotto.
Risotto gets a bad reputation.
You tend to hear it’s a fuzzy recipe or that it takes too long as it’s not a rice dish you can whip up like fiveminute rice. Let’s stop there for a second. You can never ever compare homemade risotto to a five minute rice. Just don’t.
This isn’t about food wars. Risotto deserves all the love and affection. Does it take a little extra time to make, sure, but I promise you the first time you make it, it won’t be your last.
Similar to the different types of risotto recipes, there’s also a variety of rice’s used in risotto. Arborio is the most familiar. Actually, it’s the only type of rice I’ve used but I’ve heard of other kinds like carnaroli and vialone nano. I think you’d have to order them online, I haven’t seen them readily available.
One thing to keep in mind when making risotto — cook the rice in broth. Water is fine if you don’t have broth on hand but cooking rice in broth adds so much flavour. The last thing you want to do is deprive your taste buds of flavour. You can use bone broth, chicken, beef, or vegetable. It depends completely on your preference and ingredients.
Risotto requires attention. A few things to keep in mind: everything should be chopped and measured because once you start, that’s it. It doesn’t wait for you.
Second, warm the broth before adding it to the rice. Use a ladle of broth at a time. Make sure the liquid is absorbed before adding more broth and stir constantly. Switch hands and think of it as a good arm workout.
This is the time consuming part in which you need patience but it’s the most important part and well worth the effort.
Thirdly, do not overcook risotto. Do the taste test to make sure it’s just right. It should be creamy, not too thick and a mix between a soft texture and a little al dente.
Risotto is best served and eaten right away. It’s not like other foods that are better the next day. It gets clumpy and starchy.
There’s no question, risotto can be a full meal or a side. Either way, it’s definitely fit to eat. The trick, don’t go back for seconds or thirds. It’s a problem, a foodie addiction. I hope you don’t get trapped. I’ll apologize now.
Have a rice day. Enjoy.