Risotto is a northern Italian rice dish cooked with broth until it reaches a creamy consistency.
More info here.
Risotto Alla Milanese
Italian creamy rice with saffron
Equipment
- Casserole For the broth.
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon Saffron
- 7 Shallots
- 1 bunch Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (To taste)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 500 grans Carnaroli rice (17.63 oz)
- 750 cl Chicken broth (Approximately)
- 50 cl White wine (a dry one is better)
- 100 grams butter (3.52 oz)
Instructions
- Prepare the chicken broth before starting, homemade broth is clearly better, but you can use stock cubes otherwise and mix it with the saffron to get color and flavor. If the broth has salt, it is not necessary to add anything to it because the cheese already has a lot of salt, but it is also to taste.750 cl Chicken broth
- About 2½ glass of water for 1 cup of rice is enough, but just in case leave more broth prepared, not all rice are the same.
- Cut the shallots very small in brunoise, that is, very very small cubes or lastly chop them very small.7 Shallots
- Cook the shallots with a little olive oil and very small piece of butter for 2 minutes. When they get barely golden brown, add the rice to the pan (*1), stir a little to mix everything and cook a few minutes (usually less than 3 minutes just to seal rice).1 tbsp olive oil, 500 grans Carnaroli rice
- Add a nice splash of the wine and reduce cooking to medium heat.50 cl White wine
- After a few seconds cooking the rice with the wine (never dry out the pan, otherwise the rice sticks and burns) with a ladle, add one ladle at a time, add one and wait for it to cook for 1 minute with that broth. Not too much broth because the rice is washed and not too little because it dries and burns. During the process add very often a ladle of broth.
- This process can take over medium heat between 20 and 40 minutes, depending on the pan, the heat, the quantities, etc.Every so often taste the rice until you have 2 minutes to go.
- When you finally have 1 or 2 minutes to finish, add the last ladle of broth and a lot of butter.100 grams butter
- Stir the rice to mix it with the butter and then add the grated cheese and stir again out of the heat.
- Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- With each added ladle, you will have to wait longer than the last to add broth.
- The cooking time of this recipe depends on the pan size, the amount of rice and the heat.
Do not take these times exactly. Taste the rice yourself to know how long it takes to cook. - It can be suitable for vegetarians if the chicken broth is replaced by vegetables.
- It can be eaten too as a side dish to an ossobuco.
- You can cook the ossobuco following this recipe of slow cook meat.
- (*1) In this moment you can add a black garlic clove or two. It's a nice optional touch.
- Rice mainly contains one type of starch called amylose and another type called amylopectin.
To achieve a creamier risotto, you want to release the starch from the outer layer of the rice as it cooks. In this case, it is mainly amylose, since it has the property of gelatinizing and thickening when cooking. Constantly stirring the rice while the risotto is cooking rubs the surface of the rice grains, helping to release the amylose into the cooking liquid. This contributes to the characteristic creamy texture of a good risotto. - Stir the rice constantly. Gently and carefully not to break the grains.
