Dish of the month (April 2022): risotto

Morning Glory

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'Dish of the month' focusses on an accessible and generic dish, so that most of us can join in, cook and post the results. Its non competitive and there is no need to post the recipe unless you want to. This month, risotto has been chosen.

So, its over to you to make your finest risottos and post the results in this thread. Innovation is positively encouraged!
 
My first question would be:
What rice do you use for your risotto?
Typically, people would say "Arborio", but some Italian friends recommended carnaroli, and I can honestly say I thought it was even better than arborio. Evidently, you need a type of rice which is starchy and will tolerate constant stirring, as well as being robust enough to take the constant stirring without breaking up.
I´d avoid any long grain rice like the plague, because they wouldn´t have enough starch.
What rice do you use? Have you got a preference?
 
My first question would be:
What rice do you use for your risotto?
Typically, people would say "Arborio", but some Italian friends recommended carnaroli, and I can honestly say I thought it was even better than arborio. Evidently, you need a type of rice which is starchy and will tolerate constant stirring, as well as being robust enough to take the constant stirring without breaking up.
I´d avoid any long grain rice like the plague, because they wouldn´t have enough starch.
What rice do you use? Have you got a preference?
That's fantastic advice for us first-timers, thank you!
 
My first question would be:
What rice do you use for your risotto?
Typically, people would say "Arborio", but some Italian friends recommended carnaroli, and I can honestly say I thought it was even better than arborio. Evidently, you need a type of rice which is starchy and will tolerate constant stirring, as well as being robust enough to take the constant stirring without breaking up.
I´d avoid any long grain rice like the plague, because they wouldn´t have enough starch.
What rice do you use? Have you got a preference?
This I would need to order online, Arborio I can get locally ... but I'm keeping this in mind after my first go
 
Arborio is fine - go ahead and use it if it´s easily available.
Next little pearl of wisdom - KIS.
Keep it simple. Use a few ingredients, for example, garden peas and ham; asparagus; mixed mushrooms; seafood (had one the other day which had a few prawns, clams and mussels - perfect. My opinion, for what it´s worth, is you want to avoid "crowding " the risotto with loads of ingredients.
When you start making the risotto, just make sure your stock is hot. You´re going to add it ladle by ladle,so if it´s NOT hot, the rice won´t cook properly. You can use whatever stock you like, I suppose, but my preference is for a light vegetable stock,which allows the other ingredients to shine through.
And the last thing? Risotto is labour-intensive. Stir, stir, stir, for about 20 minutes, so the rice gets creamy. This is not a dish you can just dump in a pan and leaveYou don´t want a Spanish asopado, but neither do you want dry risotto.
 
......and the contentious thing. 'Authentically' cream should not be added. The rice itself is the star and makes the creamy texture. Of course, you can break that rule if you want - I've seen quite a few American recipes which add cream. Personally, I wouldn't.
 
......and the contentious thing. 'Authentically' cream should not be added. The rice itself is the star and makes the creamy texture. Of course, you can break that rule if you want - I've seen quite a few American recipes which add cream. Personally, I wouldn't.
Absolutely no cream, that would make it a rice pudding. It's butter and/or Parmesan added at the very end to finally enrichen the dish.
 
......and the contentious thing. 'Authentically' cream should not be added. The rice itself is the star and makes the creamy texture. Of course, you can break that rule if you want - I've seen quite a few American recipes which add cream. Personally, I wouldn't.
I don't think I've ever seen a recipe where it says to add cream, but in reality I haven't looked at a risotto recipe in years, but still don't ever recall adding cream. Anyway, no we don't want to do that.
 
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