Risotto

[mnoble485]

So my wife has found a sudden love for risotto. I've never fixed risotto but do enjoy eating it. I know you guys have all the secrets to a successful dish, so dish.

Thanks, as always,

Mike

[robin3mj]

Use homemade stock. Take your time.

We use Jamie Oliver's recipe as a base. Fry the onions in oil, then the rice until slightly translucent. Add vermouth and cook off the alcohol, then start adding stock, slowly one ladle at a time. Take your time! Only put in more liquid when the prior ladle is mostly absorbed.
Add in your "toppings" depending on how long they take to cook. At the end, put a slug of butter and/or parm on top, remove from heat, and cover for a few mins.

Peas and shrimp and mint is nice. Anything is nice, really. Risotto is a great dish to know how to make.

[jdp211]

I feel like every time I recommend a recipe it comes from Serious Eats, but for real they're so good that it's hard not to. With that in mind, their approach to risotto is a little different than the 'traditional' methods, but the results speak for themselves.

The Food Lab: The Road To Better Risotto | Serious Eats

[htwoopup]

Use a pan with high sides...almost wok like. A little asiago cheese sprinkled in and stirred at the finish is good on hearty veggie types of additives. Seafood like shrimp, scallops, lobster and use a fish or chicken stock are great (don't cheese that). I think it was implied before but just to be sure...keep your stock on heat on another burner below boiling and ladle it in from there. No more than 4 Ozs of stock ladled in at a time.

Oh, and stir but not constantly. Slow. As said before just a little stir when stock absorbed. Take your time. That way you get that nice starchy sort of paste (I know that is the wrong word) to it.

[alexstar]

Make it in the Thermomix!

[hampco]

Make it in the Thermomix!

Yum - hot wet rice! Actually, I made risotto last night with sausage/chard/broccoli/leek ramps and finished it with butter/parm/goat cheese - quite tasty.

Just make it, don't get too hung up on technique as it's pretty hard to wreck. Stir often, not too much liquid at once.

[Octave]

I feel like every time I recommend a recipe it comes from Serious Eats, but for real they're so good that it's hard not to. With that in mind, their approach to risotto is a little different than the 'traditional' methods, but the results speak for themselves.

The Food Lab: The Road To Better Risotto | Serious Eats

Yep, this non-traditional approach is the tops. Using the starchy water from rinsing the rice is genius. Sometimes (rarely, but sometimes and often with "The Food Lab") new techniques can actually improve a recipe over the old standards - this is one of those rare cases.

[guido]

My favorite variation includes fiddleheads and pancetta. yum!

[j44ke]

Fiddleheads stir-fried in olive oil and lemon makes a good side for the risotto w/peas & mint.

[mnoble485]

image-3685508303.jpg

My first attempt at risotto. Also my first attempt at chicken piccata. A few lessons learned. I started with a recipe that I should have cut in half in a pan too small. The risotto was a little more than al dente. Used a saffron recipe and flavor was good just not the right texture when complete. The piccata was tender but my thought process was if a little lemon was good more would be better. Turns out not true.

I will definitely try again.

Mike

[znfdl]

image-3685508303.jpg The piccata was tender but my thought process was if a little lemon was good more would be better. Turns out not true.

Piccata is tricky, as it depends upon the individual lemon's taste. You should taste the raw lemon juice to determine the taste pungency, bitterness, sweetness etc. I also like to use some rind, as the rind gives a different flavor dimension. My favorite is Mahi-Mahi Piccata.

[mzilliox]

i love risotti. I use things like Farro as well as arboriro for variety. the key is in the stock and patience. roasted veggies, mushrooms, seafood, so many ideas to try.

keep at it, and have fun

[UnfilteredDregs]

#1 Rule of risotto...

NEVER STOP STIRRING. Lol. Really. Constant agitation of the grain creates a creamy starch luxurious velouté that can't be achieved any other way.

If I have to step away for more than seconds I assign the wife or the daughter to the watch; severe penalties if they leave their battle station. Lmao.

#2 Rule of Risotto...

Always use a good broth, even if it's a simple & light Court Bouillon. Water..meh, unless it's a good spring water.

Use butter.

Don't brown the onions....but, lightly toast the rice!!! It's contradictory, the point is sweat the onions first then turn it up a bit when you add the rice.

When you've toasted the rice, the first liquid you hit it with is a wine, usually white. Unless you're doing that rare risotto thang involving beef or some such.

The risotto should be cooked at a low simmer, a slow happy burble. A flameproof piece of clayware, like a tagine bottom, is a good cooking vessel.
Keep your broth/stock covered at a simmer.

When you add the broth add just enough at a time to loosen the rice so that it stirs easily.

Don't drown the risotto.

Only add more when, as you're stirring, it's obviously absorbed most of the liquid, and you see the bottom of the cooking vessel as the spoon pulls the rice aside.

It's finished when the rice is al dente.

Cheese is added after the flame is turned off...stir and incorporate. For the blasphemous here...a dollop of creme fraiche is pretty fucking awesome in risotto.

I add broth (before adding the cheese) if I want it looser... this is why you use a good broth that can stand on its own, it won't dilute flavor and goes to help control texture.

A risotto should flow from the spoon to the plate without needing assistance. It shouldn't mound that much, if at all.

...and use a plate versus a bowl, for a classic presentation.

I love risotto. One of my favorite things to make...

[ericpmoss]

[...] For the blasphemous here...a dollop of creme fraiche is pretty fucking awesome in risotto.[...]

+1 on the creme fraiche. Mascarpone is also really great -- Raymond Blanc does this with without losing a Michelin star, so it is blessed in at least one nation willing to riot over food. ;)

[UnfilteredDregs]

...and I totally disagree with that Serious Eats/Food Lab article...The pictures are worth 1000 words, his results are terrible. The stirring is akin to properly kneading a dough, not for "even cooking," even cooking comes from adding the appropriate amount of appropriate temperature liquid.

(Sorry...)

[LarryA]

Our Christmas risotto treat starts with boiling then shelling lobsters. Shells go back into the water the lobster was cooked in, which you simmer down to 1/2 volume. Chunk up the lobster meat after it cools and set aside. Take 3 cups of lobster stock and add a bottle of prosecco to get your 6 cups of hot liquid. Make the soffrito, then add the rice as per usual. Add lobster back in when risotto is 5 minutes from ready. Yummmm;-)

[maunahaole]

I'm going to sound like a broken record here, but do it in a pressure cooker.

[UnfilteredDregs]

I'm going to sound like a broken record here, but do it in a pressure cooker.

I've never done it that way myself but I've had it and the one thing I always notice is that it splits the rice...maybe that's a technique issue? idk...

I have too many pots as it is, and I don't mind taking the time so that's really why I don't have a pressure cooker.

[maunahaole]

Can't tell you about technique on that. Mine came out pretty nice. I'm using a countertop electric and not a stovetop model. The electric ones use lower psi than the stove models, fwiw.

Can't say that I blame you for not wanting another pot. The thing takes up a bunch of space, but I find that I'm using it a couple times a week.

[LarryA]

Anyone try making pasta risotto-style (as in, in a pan and adding broth slowly)?