So….risotto…
I love risotto but before this culinary journey I have embarked on it was always one of those things that firsly I found difficult to make and secondly, once I had made, found very uninspiring.
There are so many risotto recipes out there, all different flavours, colours and ingredients so I intend to explore!
I am no chef but in my view, there are 3 key factors to making a risotto amazing…
Number one, leave a little bit of bite in the rice. There’s nothing worse in my opinion than a stodgy bit of rice pudding with no texture or substance, calling it’s self a risotto. Your ideal risotto rice doesn’t want to be too hard, but not too soft either. The only way is to continuously taste it near to the point of it being cooked. If you think it’s nearly done, take it off…which leads me to my next point…
Number two, at the end of the cook, take it off the heat, add a swig of stock and a wedge of butter and let it sit for 5 minutes with the lid on. It will make all the difference…
Number three, Wine. You can make the risotto without wine and it will be delicious! However, I do find wine adds a new dimension and layer of flavour.
What to serve on top?
In this example I served a bit of crispy bacon as my daughter loves it and we don’t have it that often but other potentials for toppings might include blue cheese, chives, crispy/salty leeks, some crispy chicken skin…
…
Ingredients…
- 50g butter
- glug of olive oil
- 1 white onion, finely chopped
- 2 leeks, finely sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 200g arborio rice
- Glass of white wine
- 1L of veg stock
- 50g cheese – cheddar or Parmesan
…
Method…
- Add half your butter and the olive to a pan…
- Sweat your onion, leek and garlic for 5 minutes until nice and soft…
- Add your rice and stir to coat…
- Add your wine, let bubble and cook away…
- Slowly add your stock a ladleful at a time leaving a bit at the end for the resting period. You may not need all the stock…
- Once the rice is cooked through and your risotto is oozy and thick, take it off the heat, add the last bit of stock, the rest of your butter and give it a good season…
- Leave for 5 minutes…
- Serve with what ever you fancy on top…
