A Unique Risotto

Risotto has always been a favourite in my family. Just to make the Italians gasp, I can tell you we used to top a beautiful, white pecorino risotto with butter-fried white fish fillets. It was a delight, but this is an exception of mixing fish and cheese!

It wasn’t until working in Italy I realised just how flowing and lava-like a great risotto should be. I also realised that it must contain a quantity of dairy that risks immediate heart clog, at least if it is going to be an absolute apex risotto.

You see, my risotto was more in the vein of paella. We often cooked too much liquid out, fearing the wateriness of the sauce. But with a flavourful stock and a touch (kidding!) of dairy, everything is made better — an abundance of sauce letting the rice jostle and flow. That pecorino risotto with the white fish is still something I eat, but it has improved immeasurably thanks to that little education I had in Como.

There aren’t many rice dishes we, in Europe, can really call our own. Especially when imagining rich Persian feasts with so many types of rice it’s impossible to keep up. One might imagine that we don’t really know much about rice, at all. Yet, some of the finest varieties of rice grow in Europe.

Gary Nabhan claims in Cumin, Camels, and Caravans: A Spice Odyssey that Alexander the Great’s troops were so satisfied with the rice dishes they found in present-day Afghanistan, they brought the recipes back to Greece. But such was the reality of the Ancient world. We often think of international trade as a modern phenomenon. It isn’t. Rice was known in Europe even before this particular conquest, just not so well as other grains. Wheats, barleys and ryes being more suited to the climate, have dominated the European diet. Indeed, the true pioneers of rice production in Europe were the Arabs, bringing it to both Italy and Spain one thousand years ago. Not coincidentally, these two countries feature the most famous European rice dishes — Paella and Risotto. Both use the shorter grain Japonica rices that are common in Europe. For risotto, this is a vital thing indeed.

Risottos are mostly, nowadays, associated with the north of Italy, where much of the richest and most dairy-heavy food comes from. And that is where I learned how to make it. On observation, Chef was telling me you have to ‘make-a da perfect waave!’ with an impeccable Italian accent, tossing a vast wok of the stuff over high heat and mounting it with a metric tonne of butter and cheese. The rice rose and fell into the pan with a satisfying slop and the whole mass came together in a perfect fusion of barely soft rice and thick starchy sauce coating it. The stuff oozed flat across the plate and got a dusting of rosemary, hazelnuts and rosemary oil before being hastened out of the kitchen; lest it set. Watching this entire process was fascinating to me, cooking risotto en masse, especially during a busy restaurant service, requires a particular degree of skill. But read on, to learn the small secrets that make a great primo plate…

How to ‘make-a da perfect waave!’

The Risotto Checklist

So, what do we know about making risotto that crawls across the plate and hugs its diner in a rich embrace? Here are my four main tips for a great plate (with a bonus one in the recipe!)

1. The right rice: Like any food that human hands have touched over the millennia, rice has evolved into countless varieties. Only some make a good risotto. Without naming and shaming, a university classmate of mine once cooked risotto with parboiled American long grain. It wasn’t risotto. Short grains are the only appropriate sort. It doesn’t matter if you use the highest grade aged basmati, it will not make a risotto. The impossibility of such a feat is caused by the starch content. Without going into too much scientific detail, the main difference between short and long rice varieties is the type of starch that predominates. Short grains are generally higher in amylopectin while longer grains contain more amylose: the difference affects the final stickiness. Much like the similar-sounding pectin that makes jam thick and sticky, amylopectin gives sticky, melting rice dishes. Risottos, if you will. There are three principal varieties that fit the profile we commonly find in the Anglosphere: Arborio, Carnaroli and the more elusive Vialone Nano. These are in order of my personal preference. There are a multitude of discussions on the net about these particular varieties. For that reason, I’ll keep it very simple. Arborio is fine, Carnaroli is my go-to but Vialone Nano, grown only in Veneto, is something special indeed. Both of the latter varieties are slightly higher in amylose than Arborio, giving a creamy sauce yet still retaining their own shapes within the risotto, they give a superior texture.
2. The Method: This is not exactly a tip… But it is the crucial thing for risotto. After softening any veg in oil and when ready to add rice, all the fun begins. Uncooked rice is covered in starch. The bulk of this starch will make up the sauce that coats the risotto as well as some of what leeches out of the rice as it softens in the stock. Cooking starch reduces its thickening power. Therefore, avoid toasting the rice for too long in the fat, just coat it. This creates the creamiest end sauce. When deglazing this concoction any alcohol should be cooked off well and the stirring should begin. This stirring is the crucial process of great risotto. (Most cooks say that the risotto should be stirred constantly and I usually end up doing this anyway.) At this first stage, stirring is non-negotiable! Remember the starch on the surface of the rice? That starch will thicken the liquid as it boils, vigorous stirring at this point will create the base of the sauce. Liquid, added ladle by ladle, slowly and gently incorporates as you stir for the next 20 minutes. If that doesn’t sound appealing luckily the main cooking of the rice can be done by adding more liquid at a time and doing less stirring than traditionally called for. The critical stages are the one that just passed and the one when the rice has almost completely softened — start and end. When the rice reaches this point a thorough stir helps break down some of the softer rice (and release starch) which gives a creamy sauce. Less work, same result. Finally, remember that at this stage, when the rice is just cooked through the risotto should still be quite liquid, dit. soupy.
3. Mounting with dairy: A good ratio is 25% of the weight of the dry rice of both butter and cheese. If it sounds a lot, it is… Still, there is a very good reason for it. Adding this unholy amount of butter and cheese to emulsify into this sauce, your risotto will thicken substantially, especially if using hard Italian cheeses. Let them melt, and beat them into the creamy sauce. Let it down with a tiny bit of stock if needed. To know if the risotto is the right consistency, toss the pan and make-a the perfect wave; a tsunami of molten starch, cheese aggregated with soft little islands of cooked rice.
4. Give it some topping: Risotto, in technical terms, is gruel; albeit a rich, fancy gruel. It is served in Italy as a first course, just as pasta is. This means that it is kind of like a side dish in some ways. There will be something served after it, some kind of contrasting meat and vegetable dish. Yet, as a porridgy soft rice dish, the texture can still be a little one-note. This is where creative freedom comes in. During my time in Italy, we often topped the risotto with rosemary, rosemary oil and chopped nuts, as detailed above. My own below is topped with dill and braised celery. The toppings offset the rich singularity of the rice. They contrast in texture; crunchy in this case, and in flavour; bitter, herbaceous, grassy in this case. A risotto will really pop if given some contrast like this.

TL;DR: Carnaroli or Vialone Nano for luxurious risotto. Cook it slow and stir it well at the start and end. 25% of the dry rice weight of both butter and cheese. Give it some flourish with differing flavoured and textured toppings. E basta.

My Own Signature: Risotto “Svanezia” con Sedano Brasato

This particular risotto is one of the rare fusion dishes that I enjoy making. It isn’t that I have a particular problem with fusion, but I think the best recipes are refined by time and cultural nurturing via the countless hands that have touched them over generations. Yet, rice is always something that seems to be from further afield than most starches, in our own European cuisines — something more distant. So taking inspiration from Persian rice dishes, my favourite Georgian spice blend and from the saffron-spiked risotto alla milanese, I came up with this ‘Italian-execution, Georgian-spiced’ risotto. A new signature dish, as I must say I was extremely content with the results (so much so I ate all three portions I’d been experimenting with — in one sitting)

My stock was made from the leftover bones of a pork roast and it was thick with gelatin, well browned and had an amazing depth of flavour. Knowing that this dark stock was too much to leave a clean white risotto, I knew that this was something that could take some spices. Svanuri Marili, of which I am planning a substantial discussion, is the perfect flavouring for something that straddles West and East. My love of spiced Persianate rice dishes, yellow and glorious, makes this Georgian spice blend a natural partner, with its coriander and fenugreek notes, and the liberal sprinkle of dill I finished the rice with is a true nod to the east. Georgia’s myriad influences in the culinary sphere bridge Middle Eastern and European cuisines, for this reason, the salt sits perfectly in a risotto. It is an exotic yet familiar concoction: salt, garlic, dried marigold leaves, blue fenugreek and coriander make up the bulk of the flavour profile. Perfect for a dish that finds historical links with Alexander’s conquest of Persia, the Arab introduction of rice to the south of Italy and finally the northern Italian lust for rich, savoury risotto. This indeed is an entire history of the geopolitics of Eurasia, a celebration of the silk road, an exaltation of travel.

Now, to fulfil that last criterion of great risotto, I knew I needed something to top it. The rich, fatty pork and cheese combination called for something bitter or vegetal. Some braised celery, cooked with a little of the stock until just tender, was a perfect addition, especially after I topped it with the liquorice notes of dark, opal basil and a dusting of dill as a flourish over the whole dish. This contrasting flavour/texture component is exactly what raises great risotto above any typical weeknight gruel! Don’t forget to leave it wet enough to cascade slowly over the plate and eat it quickly that it doesn’t harden to volcanic glass. Buon appetito!

For the recipe see Atlantic to Adriatic