Risotto

I could just give you a recipe for a risotto, but there's really more to it.

Risotto isn't so much a specific dish as it is a preparation -- a class of food, if you will. In addition to ingredients and procedure, there is technique, philosophy, and more. I promise you recipes, and I ask your indulgence while I ramble on for a bit . . .

A Reference

First, let me recommend an excellent book: Risotto, by Judith Barrett and Norma Wasserman (Macmillan, New York, NY, ISBN l0-02-0303095-5) -- it's well worth the price.

Technique

All risottos start pretty much the same way: Butter and oil are melted; in this, some onion is sauteed, and rice is added. When the rice has absorbed all the butter and oil, hot stock is added to the mixture, about half a cup at a time, until the all stock has been added and the rice is cooked. Finally, other ingredients (the condimenti, as Barret and Wasserman would have it), are added.

There are, however, a few tricks:

Ingredients

[This section is still under construction]

A few tips about ingredients:

A Short Sermon

In an effort to reduce the fat content of risotto, you might be tempted to cut back on the amount of stock and substitute water instead. Well, don't. Just don't. You won't get nearly as creamy a dish, and there are better ways to manage this (which I'll get to in just a moment). You can also skip the butter and use correspondingly more olive oil; if you use margerine, well, I have nothing more to say to you.

Risotto is a simple dish with a good peasant heritage. I consider it to be a perfect example of what Father Capon calls ferial cooking: It tastes good, it's filling, and the ingredients are inexpensive (at the cost more labor being required). It's not meant to be a “low cal” meal -- people working in the fields from sunrise to sunset don't need to watch their calories. Rather than use water in place of some of the stock, try the following:

  1. Use a no-fat vegetable or fish stock instead of meat or chicken stock.

  2. Fast. That's right -- don't eat. (See The Supper of the Lamb, by Robert Farrar Capon, for a good explanation of why this is better than dieting.)   [Powell's Books usually has this book in stock, even though it's out of print.]

Quantities

Barret and Wasserman give a basic recipe for two people of 1 1/2 cups of rice, 5 1/2 cups of stock, plus the condimenti. That gives my wife and I two servings each plus a little extra for Risotto al Salto.

The table that follows is adapted from Barret and Wasserman.

Keep in mind that these are guidelines, not hard and fast rules. The amount of stock is going to vary with how old the rice is, how wet or dry the rice is, how much fat is in the stock, and probably other things as well. After you make it a few (or a few dozen) times, you'll get a feel for how much you'll need of each ingredient.

The Recipes

Here (finally) are the recipes, both for the basic risotto and the condimenti.


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