Cooking rice in Italian: the most delicious recipes for classic risotto! What is risotto and how to prepare it Rizo recipe.

There are such warm sunny days when we get together with friends, go to the river together, have fun and just have a good time. In such weather, you want kebabs, personally cooked on the grill, or delicious pilaf, which, thanks to their extraordinary aroma, gathers everyone present around them, making you listen to the rumbling in your stomach and feel wild hunger while this delicacy is laid out on plates. If only all days were like this... But it also happens that it is dirty, cold and damp outside, but you still want good company and a delicious unusual dish. If there is the same picture outside your window, then feel free to gather friends at home and prepare a fragrant, tasty, sunny Italian dish - risotto.

What is risotto? Contrary to popular belief, this is not pilaf or its variety, and risotto cannot be called porridge. This is a completely independent dish, or rather not even a dish, but a way of preparing rice. Once you have mastered the classic risotto recipe, you can use your imagination, previous experience and advice from experienced chefs to create your own unique recipe. This is how the variety of risotto that can be seen today arose. This includes mushroom risotto, and sweet, and traditional meat, and vegetarian, and with the addition of seafood. Risotto can also vary in consistency; if you cook according to the classic recipe, it should turn out creamy, but there are recipe options with a more liquid or, conversely, crumbly consistency.

Why is it better to cook risotto in pleasant company? You can cook alone, but you won’t be able to eat it alone. Risotto loves a group of 4-6 hungry people. The cooking process itself takes no more than 20-25 minutes, but requires a lot of attention and patience. But you will have to spend a lot of time and effort on preparation. There will be something to keep your friends busy, and everyone will have time to get hungry. What do you need to prepare to make a delicious risotto? As always, we start with the dishes. A good risotto will not turn out without a wooden spoon, which is needed for constantly stirring the rice, a ladle with which you will add broth, a large saucepan, preferably 8 liters, a large cast-iron frying pan with a comfortable handle in which the risotto will be cooked, and also a very fine cheese grater.

Utensils, of course, play an important role, but without quality products, all efforts to find suitable utensils will be in vain. Wilted carrots and greens, onions that have become a little soft, semi-hard cheese, long-grain rice and sugary Cahors are not suitable for risotto. All ingredients must be fresh and tasty, so that you will definitely like them, all together and each individually. Exactly what ingredients to stock up on depends on what kind of risotto you are planning to cook. We suggest making risotto with porcini mushrooms. This recipe cannot be called classic, but with this example you can understand the basic principle of preparing this Italian dish.

Risotto does not start with rice at all, but with properly cooked broth. The broth can be vegetable, meat or fish; sometimes purified drinking water can be used instead of broth. For mushroom risotto, no matter how strange it may sound, chicken broth is suitable. Chicken broth is not the liquid that remains after boiling the chicken; it is prepared as a separate dish, with the addition of vegetables, spices and herbs. To prepare a good chicken broth, you will need 5 liters of purified drinking water, 1 nice chicken, 2 beautiful carrots, 2 juicy white onions, a teaspoon of peppercorns, a little coarse sea salt, a glass of dry white wine and a group of activists who will help cut it all, grind, chop and cook. In fact, much more wine may be needed, since activists will not help just like that.

So, get out your big pot and start creating. Rinse the chicken thoroughly in running water, separate the legs and wings from it, and cut the remaining body into 4 parts. Place the chicken in a pan, add a little sea salt and add 5 liters of water. You need to add very little salt, no more than a pinch, since the broth should remain practically unsalted. While you are doing all these manipulations with chicken and salt, ask your friends to lightly crush the peppercorns with a knife and chop the onions and carrots. In this case, you need to ensure that the carrots are cut into large pieces, and the onions into very small pieces, each piece should be the size of a grain of rice.

Once the chicken is in the pan and the carrots and onions are chopped, place a dry cast-iron frying pan on the heat, add the carrots and onions, and cook until the onions become translucent. Place the pan on the fire, wait until it boils, reduce the heat to low and send the most patient person to skim off the foam that forms. When there is no foam left, it’s time to add vegetables and peppers and cover the pan with a lid for an hour and a half. At this time, you can prepare other ingredients or drink some wine and indulge in memories of bright sunny days. After an hour and a half, pour a glass of dry white wine into the broth. And after another 25 minutes, make a bouquet of your favorite greens, adding a bay leaf and lower it into the pan for a few minutes. Strain the finished broth and pour into a clean saucepan. Finally the broth is ready!

We've sorted out the most important thing, now you can start preparing the risotto itself. For this you will need 400 grams of Arborio rice; you can try to find other rice for risotto, for example, Carnaroli or Vialone nano, but Arborio is found on the shelves of our stores much more often. Also prepare 250 grams of fresh porcini mushrooms, 1 small head of white onion, 1 small clove of garlic, a bunch of parsley, 100 grams of your favorite butter, 1 more glass of dry white wine, 2 liters of previously cooked chicken broth, 50 grams of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, salt , freshly ground black pepper and a few saffron stigmas.

It is worth briefly explaining why this particular rice, this particular cheese and only dry wine are used to prepare risotto. Rice suitable for risotto contains two types of starch, one located on the surface of each grain of rice, which gives it a creamy texture, and another located inside, which prevents the rice from overcooking and turning the risotto into mush. It is to preserve the starch on the surface of the grains that rice for risotto should never be washed. Just like three types of rice, only three types of cheese can be called ideal for risotto. These are Parmigiano Reggiano or Parmesan, Grana Padano and Trentingrana. All these cheeses have a grainy structure in common, and they are the ones used in the classic risotto recipe. When it comes to choosing wine, things are much simpler. In fact, there are only two requirements for it: it must be dry and of high quality. If these two requirements are met, then which wine you decide to use does not matter.

If you continue in this vein and talk about each ingredient, the company you have gathered will be hungry to eat the chicken used to cook the broth, so involve them in preparing the products. Measure out 400 grams of rice, peel, wash thoroughly and chop the mushrooms, chop the parsley very finely, put the broth on low heat, grate the cheese and finely chop the onion, put a pinch of saffron in a glass and pour over the hot broth. Only now can you start preparing the risotto itself.

Take out your large cast iron frying pan, place it on the fire and heat about 30 grams of butter. Add finely chopped onion to the oil and fry it until it becomes transparent. At this stage, you cannot be distracted, because if the onion burns, you will have to throw it away and start frying a new portion. Now it's the turn of rice. Pour it into the pan in a quick circular motion. From now on, constantly stir the future risotto. Fry the rice until it becomes almost transparent and make sure that it is evenly soaked in oil. Now pour in the wine, mix it with the rice and cook, stirring constantly until the rice has absorbed all the wine.

Immediately after the wine has been absorbed, you can start adding broth. By this point it should be boiling. Use a ladle to scoop up the broth and pour it into the pan, stirring the rice until it has absorbed all the broth. Then add the broth again and stir again. While you're making the broth, so that your invited friends don't get bored, ask them to cook the mushrooms. To do this, heat 30 grams of butter in a separate frying pan, add a clove of garlic and chopped mushrooms to it and fry them over high heat for 3-4 minutes. You need to make sure that the mushrooms do not burn, so constant stirring is required here. Ready mushrooms need to be lightly salted and peppered, remove the garlic and add finely chopped parsley.

When the pot of broth is half-full, add the mushrooms to the risotto and pour in the broth with saffron, stir and continue adding broth in small portions. When the rice is ready, remove the pan from the heat. Cut the remaining butter into small cubes, add it to the risotto along with the finely grated cheese and mix thoroughly until the mixture becomes homogeneous.

Now you can put the risotto on plates and eat it immediately. Although after such a long preparation for this event there must have been a serious appetite, the risotto would probably disappear from the plates before it even appeared there. Perhaps such a long cooking process was not invented by chance and is intended to contribute to the appearance of hungry rumbling in the stomach, so that later there will be no trace left of the cooked risotto, because eating it cannot be put off until later. Bon appetit and sunny mood!

Alena Karamzina

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Rice is one of the few grains that is the national food in most countries of the world. So Italian cuisine did not ignore this miracle product. Risotto is a rice dish cooked in broth. It is common in all regions of the republic, but it is still given greater preference in the north of the country. At home, it is usually served first before the main dish. The huge variety of types of risotto makes it an attractive target for both restaurant and home cooks. Our article is a relaxed guide to the world where rice rules.

The history of risotto is naturally connected with the history of rice in Italy. The cereal was first brought to the country by the Arabs in the Middle Ages. The humidity coming from the Mediterranean Sea was ideal for growing this crop.

The popularity of rice grew, but mainly among the wealthy population due to the exorbitant prices of the product. As soon as mass sales of cereals abroad began, its cost in the republic began to decline quite quickly. This has contributed to its presence in almost every home.

The first recipe for risotto supposedly dates back to 1809, when a young glassblower from Flanders, accustomed to using saffron as a pigment in his craft, added the spice to boiled rice at a wedding celebration.

As a dish with an established recipe, risotto was first mentioned in the book Trattato di cucina (Treatise on Cookery) in 1854. However, the question of who exactly invented the now traditional dish in Italy still remains open.

Rice varieties for cooking

To prepare risotto, round or short grain rice is usually used. Such varieties have the ability to absorb liquid and release starch. Therefore, they are stickier when cooked than long-grain cereals.

The main varieties of rice from which the dish is cooked in Italy are called: A Arborio, Baldo, Carnaroli, Maratelli, Padano, Roma, Vialone Nano.

Carnaroli, Maratelli and Vialone Nano are considered the best and most expensive options. Moreover, the first of them is less likely to be overcooked. And the latter cooks faster and absorbs seasonings better.

Types such as Roma and Baldo will not have the characteristic creamy taste of risotto. They are considered to be better suited for soups and sweet rice desserts.

Varieties by region

Risotto is so versatile that almost every cook can boast of his own masterpiece. But there are varieties whose recipes do not need to be supplemented. They all have traditional names:

Risotto alla milanese is a dish born in. It is prepared in beef broth with beef bone marrow, lard and... Flavored and colored with saffron. We recommend reading the article.
Risotto al Barolo is a Piedmontese version of the dish. Made with the addition of red wine and Borlotti beans.
Risotto al nero di seppia is a dish specific to the region. It contains cuttlefish and its ink, which gives it a jet black color.

Risi e bisi is another representative of Veneto. This spring version of the preparation is more reminiscent of a thick soup and is usually served with a spoon rather than a fork. Young green peas are added to it and seasoned.
Risotto alla zucca is a pumpkin dish with saffron and grated cheese.
Risotto alla pilota is a dish typical of Mantova. It is prepared with pork and...
Risotto ai funghi is a mushroom version of rice. It often contains porcini mushrooms, boletus mushrooms, summer mushrooms or champignons.

In Italy, the term risotto means not so much a rice dish as a special technology for its preparation. Therefore, there are a huge number of its types.

Recipes

It is not possible to list all risotto recipes in one or even several articles. Not only all over the world, but even within the borders of Italy itself, no one will undertake to count their exact number. Therefore, in this article we have selected the most popular options.

Classical

Just as “you can’t take the words out of a song,” it’s impossible to ignore the classics in recipes for national dishes. For risotto, the Milanese version is traditional. This is what we will look at first.

Required ingredients:

Round grain rice – 320 g;
Meat broth – 1l;
Dry white wine – 100 ml;
Beef bone marrow – 30 g;
Butter – 60 g;
Saffron stigmas (16 pcs.) or ground saffron (1 bag);
Onion – ½ piece;
Hard cheese (parmesan, grana padano) – 50 g;
Salt to taste.

It is unlikely that you will find prepared beef bone marrow on sale. But it is found in sufficient quantities in the femur and tibia. It is easily separated from hard tissue using a narrow spoon.

If you do not have the opportunity to purchase any famous Italian hard cheese, then use domestic products (Gouda, Tilsiter, Russian).

So, first of all, we prepare the saffron in case of using stigmas. They need to be filled with 50 ml of hot water and left for 2 hours.
Next, in a frying pan with high sides, melt 30 g of butter and fry finely chopped onion and bone marrow in it. Add rice and fry until the grains become shiny. At this point, add white wine and let it evaporate over high heat.

Add some salt to taste, add hot broth in such an amount that it completely covers the rice. While cooking over medium heat, stir the cereal several times. If necessary, add broth.

A few minutes before readiness, add saffron infusion or powder. Mix thoroughly again.

Remove the pan from the heat and enrich the taste of the risotto with the remaining butter and grated cheese. Let cool for 5 minutes. Your Milanese risotto is ready to serve!

With mushrooms

Mushrooms are one of the most valuable gifts that Mother Earth gives us. There is no better way to enjoy their taste than by making risotto with porcini mushrooms. Its creamy, enveloping taste will not only pamper the family on weekdays, but will also be a wonderful addition to the holiday table.

Ingredients for mushroom risotto:

Round grain rice – 320 g;
Porcini mushrooms – 400 g;
Vegetable broth – 1 l;
Small onion – 1 pc.;
Garlic – 1 clove;
Butter – 30 g (+30 g for serving);
Olive oil – 2 tbsp. spoons;
Salt and ground black pepper to taste;
Hard cheese – 50 g;
Chopped parsley - 2 tbsp. spoons.

In the absence of porcini mushrooms, they are replaced with any available options. But it is worth remembering that only the “kings of the forest kingdom” will impart a bright mushroom aroma and a unique velvety taste to the dish.

First of all, prepare the vegetable broth. Boil coarsely chopped carrots, onions, and celery in about 2 liters of water for 1 hour (you can add a tomato and a pot of pepper). Strain and add salt to taste.

After preparing the broth, we deal with porcini mushrooms. Remove any remaining soil, if any, and wipe with a damp cloth. We wash the very dirty fungus under running water and collect the moisture with a dry towel. Next, cut the boletus lengthwise into slices 7-8 mm thick.

Heat olive oil in a frying pan and lightly fry the chopped garlic clove. Then increase the heat and add the mushrooms. Fry for 10 minutes until golden brown, add salt and pepper. Mushrooms prepared in this way will have a pleasant crunch in the main dish.

Meanwhile, peel and finely chop the onion. Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the onions. Simmer over low heat for 10-15 minutes, adding a spoonful of broth if necessary. When the onion softens, add the rice and fry for a couple of minutes.

Pour a ladle of broth over the completely coated cereal and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. As it absorbs, add a small amount of liquid. We make sure that there are constant small boiling bubbles. When the rice is almost ready, as the Italians say “al dente,” add the mushrooms and wait another 5-7 minutes. Turn off the heat and add salt to taste.

Finally, season the risotto with grated cheese and the remaining butter, mix well. Before serving, garnish with chopped parsley.

Mushroom risotto is best eaten fresh. You can store it in the refrigerator in an airtight container for 1-2 days.

With seafood

Seafood risotto is a classic Italian dish that perfectly warms you up on cold days. At first glance, the recipe may seem quite complicated. In fact, it does not require special culinary skills. You just need to choose your seafood carefully. In our version, we used mussels, oysters, shrimp and squid. But the types of seafood can vary according to your taste.

Required ingredients:

Round grain rice – 320 g;
Mussels in shell – 1 kg;
Oysters – 1 kg;
Cleaned squid – 400 g;
Shrimp – 350 g;
Parsley – 1 bunch;
Garlic – 2 cloves;
Dry white wine – 200 ml;
Fish broth – 0.5 l;
Olive oil – 80 ml;
Onion – 1 pc.;
Celery – 1 pc.;
Carrots – 1 pc.;
Chili pepper – 1 pc.;
Salt and ground black pepper to taste.

Preparation of seafood consists of several stages:

We wash the peeled squids under running water and cut them into rings.
Separate the shrimp from their shells.
We wash the mussels under the tap, and soak the oysters in water overnight. Cook the first and second ones in different pans over high heat for 1-2 minutes until their shells open. Strain the broths into one container, and clean the shellfish and set aside until use.

When the preparation is completed, we move on to the main process. Chop carrots, celery, garlic and chili peppers and fry in 40 ml of olive oil. Add squid and pour in 100 ml of white wine. Simmer until soft.

At this time, in another pan, fry the chopped onion in the remaining oil over low heat. When the onion becomes transparent, add rice and mix thoroughly for 3-5 minutes. Add 100 ml of white wine. As soon as the wine is absorbed, we begin to gradually add the shellfish broth and leave to cook.

Add soft squids with shrimp and finely chopped parsley and cook for another 5 minutes. If necessary, add a couple of ladles of broth.

When the rice is almost ready, combine it with a mixture of squid and shrimp, mussels and oysters. Mix thoroughly, season with salt and pepper and turn off the heat. Let the dish rest for a few minutes under the lid. To serve, decorate the seafood risotto with fresh parsley.

With Chiken

Today, chicken meat is the most popular product in its category. Therefore, dishes with it are incredibly popular. We present to your attention a simple recipe for risotto with crispy chicken.

To prepare it you will need:

Round grain rice – 300 g;
Chicken breasts – 400 g;
Vegetable broth – 1 l;
Butter – 30 g;
Hard cheese – 40 g;
Olive oil – 60 g;
Paprika – 10 g;
Black olives – 40 g;
Salt to taste.

In a saucepan, fry the rice in olive oil. When the cereal is completely covered with an oily film, season it with a pinch of salt. Add vegetable broth so that it covers the rice completely. During cooking, add liquid as needed.
While the rice is cooking, make the chicken breast. Cut it into cubes with a side of about 2 cm. Fry in olive oil over high heat for a couple of minutes. We complete the treatment with a six-minute exposure in the oven at 200 degrees.

When the rice is ready, add butter and grated hard cheese. Mix thoroughly for about a minute.

To serve hot risotto, sprinkle with paprika, lay out pieces of chicken and black olives, cut in half. If desired, paprika can be replaced with saffron.

With vegetables

Risotto with vegetables is a healthy and nutritious, and at the same time also a very bright dish. It is simple and quick to prepare. Ideal in the summer. Vegetarians will also appreciate it.

Required components:

Round grain rice – 320 g;
Carrots – 100 g;
Yellow bell pepper (peeled) – 50 g;
Red bell pepper – 50 g;
Eggplants – 100 g;
Zucchini – 100 g;
Green peas – 50 g;
Cherry tomatoes – 150 g;
Celery – 1 pc.;
Onion – 1 pc.;
Butter – 20 g;
Olive oil – 180 ml;
Vegetable broth – 1 l;
Chopped parsley - 2 tbsp. spoons;
Hard cheese (grated) – 4 tbsp. spoons;
White wine – 40 ml;
Sugar – 1 tbsp. spoon;
Salt and black pepper to taste.

All vegetables for preparing risotto must be fresh, not frozen. The only exception is peas. You can make this dish with any seasonal vegetables, depending on your preferences.

First of all, wash and chop the vegetables (except onions). It is necessary that everything be cut into small cubes of the same size (with a side of no more than 1 cm). Cut cherry tomatoes into halves and add a tablespoon of sugar. This will help them lose excess acidity.

Saute the chopped half of the onion in a saucepan with a mixture of oils (10 g butter and 3 tablespoons olive) over very low heat. To prevent it from burning, add a little broth. When the onion becomes transparent (after about 15 minutes), add chopped zucchini, eggplant, half a carrot, peas and bell pepper. Salt, pepper and simmer for 15 minutes. Vegetables should be soft, but not soggy.

In another pan, fry the remaining onion, celery and carrots in olive oil for 10 minutes. Then add rice and fry for a couple more minutes. Pour in white wine. When it has evaporated, add a ladle of broth and cook, stirring occasionally.

After absorbing the liquid, add ready-made vegetables to the rice and add salt and pepper. Pour in the broth again in portions and cook until the cereal is completely cooked. Mix everything with cherry tomatoes and turn off the heat.

While the risotto is still hot, add butter, grated cheese and parsley. Mix everything thoroughly and serve.

Calorie content and benefits

For example, the nutritional value of 100 g of a classic dish is approximately 350 kcal and consists of:

Proteins – 14 g;
Fats – 13 g;
Carbohydrates – 44 g.

This amount of fat is about 40% of the recommended daily intake for a healthy person. In order to reduce lipid content, it is necessary to reduce the proportions of fatty components (butter, cheese, cream).

Despite all its caloric content, a medium-sized serving of risotto contains many valuable nutrients, especially if the dish is prepared with vegetables or seafood. The latter are distinguished by a large percentage of essential proteins and the presence of Omega-3 fatty acids, which reduce inflammatory processes in the body and improve the condition of the cardiovascular system.

Increased dietary fiber (vegetable) weight by using less short grain rice.
Replacing part of the cereal with wild or brown rice, as well as cheese with low-fat cottage cheese, and meat broth with vegetable broth.
Use fresh vegetables when serving the dish. An excellent companion to risotto is lettuce.
Reducing the portion eaten.

If you follow these simple tips, the national dish of Italy can become a traditional healthy dish on your table.

A short article about the giant of Italian cuisine has come to its logical conclusion. Cook with diligence, dare under any circumstances, do not be afraid to fantasize and remember: “The way to the heart of an Italian man lies through a well-prepared risotto!”

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Cooking secrets

Risotto is one of the culinary symbols of Northern Italy, like pizza and spaghetti. This dish appeared by chance, thanks to the absent-mindedness of the cook, who was preparing rice soup, but forgot about it, and all the broth evaporated. Surprisingly, the cook found delicious rice in the pan, like the most delicate cream, with pieces of vegetables and meat. The first recipes for Italian risotto appeared in the 16th century, and now there are about a thousand ways to prepare this dish. All of them are prepared according to the same scheme: rice is fried in oil with onions, filled with broth or water, stewed, then vegetables, fruits, mushrooms, meat or seafood are added to it, and the ingredients may change. Sometimes, for a creamy texture, grated cheese mixed with butter is added to the dish at the end of cooking. You don't have to go to Italy to try Italian dishes, you can do it at home! So, let's talk about how to cook at home.

The best broth for risotto

Italian housewives prepare risotto in a maximum of 20 minutes, but they prepare all the ingredients for the dish in advance, such as broth. Risotto can be cooked in fish, beef and vegetable broth, but classic risotto recipes use chicken broth, boiled in good water with vegetables and spices. The flavor of the chicken goes perfectly with the rice!

It is better to cook chicken in well-purified drinking water with the addition of carrots, onions, stalked celery, parsley root, green pea pods, leeks, juniper, white or black peppercorns. And of course, don’t forget about the bouquet garni, which includes three essential components - parsley, thyme and bay leaf, diluted with tarragon, basil, rosemary, thyme and savory. These seasonings can be added dried or fresh, and it is better to salt the broth with sea salt - it is tastier and healthier.

The broth is prepared in the usual way: put the chicken in cold and lightly salted water, after boiling, reduce the heat, skim off the foam, add vegetables and spices and simmer for about 2 hours over low heat. 30 minutes before it’s ready, pour in a little dry white wine, and a couple of minutes before it’s ready, put bunches of greens into the pan. Then you need to cool and strain the broth. Using this recipe, you can also prepare broths from other products, just changing the cooking time, because vegetables and mushrooms cook faster.

Soft on the outside, hard on the inside

There are several hundred varieties of rice in the world, but only three varieties are intended for risotto - Arborio, Carnaroli and Vialone Nano. These medium-grain starchy varieties have a unique feature - they contain two types of starch. The starch on the surface becomes soft very quickly, so when cooked, the grains acquire a creamy consistency on the outside. The starch filling the core of the grain remains hard even after long cooking, so the rice turns out soft on the outside and dense on the inside. This is its highlight. Under no circumstances should you rinse rice before placing it in water, otherwise the surface layer will be damaged and you will end up with rice porridge instead of risotto. When choosing rice in a store, you can safely buy a package called “Risotto Rice.” Most likely, this is arborio, since other varieties are difficult to find in Russian stores. However, Arborio rice is very good and beautiful, looking like freshwater pearls. The quality of the rice is very important because it is what holds the dish together. By the way, about proportions - for 100 g of rice you need to take about 500 ml of broth.

A few words about products for risotto

The classic cheese for risotto is hard, grainy Parmesan or Grana Padano; the wine must be white and dry. It is recommended to use only butter, since risotto is a dish of the northern Italian regions, and olives grow in the south, however, in modern recipes it is allowed to use a combination of butter and olive oil. Naturally, the oil should have a fat content of 82.5%.

It is better to take yellow and white onions, not red; they should be cut very finely so that they do not introduce disharmony into the creamy consistency of the dish. Another important component of risotto is saffron. This ingredient is mentioned in recipes for risotto alla Milanese. You only need to purchase it in a store, and in its entirety, despite the fact that at the oriental bazaar sellers offer to buy a glass of saffron for 300 rubles. This should not be done under any circumstances, because the true cost of the spice is $10 per gram, and this gram will be enough for more than 40 risottos. To prepare the dish, use an infusion of saffron, for which several stamens are poured with hot broth and left for 30 minutes until the liquid acquires an orange tint. Another option is to dissolve saffron in wine.

Important points for preparing risotto

First, onions and other vegetables are fried in a frying pan until soft and transparent, but without forming a golden brown crust. Then pour in the rice and stir with the vegetables for half a minute, then pour in the wine, and the stirring process continues until the liquid is absorbed into the rice. Next, add one ladle of hot broth, while stirring the rice vigorously until it absorbs the liquid. When half of the broth remains, the main ingredient is added to the rice - saffron water, as well as mushrooms, seafood, meat or the necessary vegetables, then the broth is poured again in parts (while stirring). Exactly 17 minutes from the start of cooking, the frying pan is removed from the heat; it should remain completely undisturbed for 2 minutes so that the rice can rest and cool slightly. Finally, cubes of cold butter and grated cheese are placed on the rice, after which the risotto is well kneaded or shaken to distribute the butter and cheese evenly.

Constantly stirring the rice is an important condition for preparing the right risotto, and to make it work, prepare all the ingredients in advance, and then you won’t have to be distracted by onions or cheese. By the way, Italians do not add cheese to seafood risotto, believing that they do not go well together. You should be careful with salt and pepper when preparing risotto, since well-aged cheeses have a salty and spicy taste. Before cooking, taste the dish and, if necessary, add salt.

How to make risotto especially delicious: secrets from the chef

If you are making risotto with chicken broth, add a little tarragon to the pan while cooking the chicken, and dill is good for making seafood broth. These seasonings improve the taste of the dish and make the risotto incredibly fragrant. You can put the chicken soup set for broth in the oven for 5 minutes and then cook the broth from it, which will turn out strong, tasty and golden. The same can be done with vegetables for broth - keep them in the oven or in a hot frying pan until lightly scorched.

It is better to crush the peppercorns before cooking, then the aroma will be especially bright. By the way, to make the broth low-calorie, it is recommended to cool it and skim off the congealed fat.

All products for risotto must be of the highest quality, so you should not use wine for the broth just because it turned out to be too sour, or add dried cheese to the rice.

Another feature of the dish is its versatility, because each Italian region cooks it differently, so there are many recipes for how to prepare risotto. Instead of dry white wine, feel free to add dessert or sparkling wines, replace classic hard cheese with soft or blue cheeses, and use creamy cheeses, cream or olive oil as a butter substitute.

Experiments with risotto

In ancient recipes for this dish one could find egg yolks, sausage, sugar, milk and bread crumb, but even now chefs like to experiment with risotto. For example, if you add green peas to a dish, you get a Venetian version. Some Milanese cooks fry onions and garlic with bone marrow, and during the Renaissance this dish was served with ox marrow, making risotto a delicacy.

With asparagus, artichokes, cauliflower, celery and zucchini it is considered a dietary dish - you can add lemon juice to it for piquancy and freshness. Risotto often becomes a filling for pies; it is also used as stuffing for tomatoes, eggplants and peppers, and it is also cooked in the oven as a casserole. Avocado, tomatoes, carrots, beans, sausages, cervelat and other products are also added to this dish.

Risotto can be prepared for dessert by boiling rice in milk or berry broth, and then adding fruits, berries, dried fruits and nuts to it. Sweet risotto with pumpkin, chocolate or chestnuts is very tasty.

Step-by-step risotto recipe

So, you've mastered the theory, now try making classic Milanese risotto with saffron and white wine. All details are described above, so the recipe is given without details.

Ingredients: chicken broth - 5.5 cups, risotto rice - 360 g, dry white wine - 120 ml, onion - 1 pc., butter - 30 g, champignons - 150 g, olive oil - 2 tbsp. l., Parmesan - 120 g, saffron - 1 pinch, salt - to taste, ground black pepper - to taste.

Cooking method:

1. Add saffron to the wine.

2. Bring the broth to a boil and cover with a lid.

3. Finely chop the onion, chop the mushrooms medium-sized and fry in olive oil until softened, this will take about 5 minutes. The onion should retain its color.

4. Add the rice to the onions and stir well for a minute.

5. Pour the saffron wine into the rice, reduce the heat and cook, stirring, until the rice has completely absorbed the wine.

6. Add one ladle of broth to the rice and stir again until absorbed. So pour in a ladle of broth until it runs out. On average, rice takes about 25 minutes to cook; when cooked, it resembles something between a second rice dish and rice soup from which all the liquid has boiled away.

7. Season with salt and pepper, add diced cold butter and grated Parmesan. Stir and serve.

Your family will certainly appreciate Italian risotto, and when you learn how to cook a classic version of the dish, pay attention to other risotto recipes, photos and descriptions of which are published on our website.

Risotto with porcini mushrooms

Mushroom risotto has an appetizing appearance and an extraordinary aroma. Cook 2 liters of chicken broth with carrots, onions and spices. Bring 60 g of dry porcini mushrooms to a boil in a glass of chicken broth and let them brew for half an hour. Chop the swollen mushrooms, strain the liquid, pour back into the broth and bring to a boil.

In 2-3 tbsp. l. olive oil, fry the finely chopped onion until translucent, add 300 g of arborio rice into the pan and fry, stirring, for 3 minutes. Pour in a glass of dry white wine and simmer while stirring for another 3 minutes. Place the mushrooms in the rice, pour in 2 more ladles of broth and cook until the liquid is absorbed. Gradually add broth and stir for 18–20 minutes. Remove the rice from the heat, let it sit for a minute, and then add 40 g of butter and 100 g of grated Parmesan. Serve the risotto on warm plates, garnished with fresh herbs.

There are hundreds of risotto recipes, some simple and some incredibly complex. But it’s better to learn how to cook risotto using the simplest and most classic recipe as an example.

So we're getting ready Milanese risotto.

We will need broth, rice, cheese, dry white wine, butter, onions and natural saffron.

First the broth

Risotto cooks in 17 minutes. No more and no less, you can check your watch. But this is only if you prepared everything else in advance, especially the broth - preparing it requires time, calm and very high-quality ingredients.

The idea of broth is the basis of regular cuisine, any, French, Italian, or Russian - decent cabbage soup cannot be made without decent broth.

Broth for risotto

The best broth for risotto is chicken. It should be cooked in a large saucepan and preferably from a special soup chicken. You also need good drinking water and a minimum set of vegetables and seasonings - onions and carrots, black peppercorns, a pinch of salt. To this you can add stalked celery, parsley root, the green part of the leek, fresh green peas in pods, white peppercorns, juniper, and a strip of lemon zest. While preparing the broth, you can also add a little dry white wine. And, of course, a bouquet garni, compiled according to the season. Preparing the broth takes at least 2 hours, so it makes sense to prepare it in advance and store it in the freezer in ice bags.

Which chicken to choose
Chicken for soup is sold at any decent market. If you decide to fry or stew it, make sure that the finished meat is unsuitable. But the broth from such a bird is what you need. During cooking, the soup chicken gives up all its best and is no longer suitable for anything else. If you want to save money without losing quality, cook the remaining 3-4 chicken remains after cutting off the attractive parts.

Water for risotto is important. Actually, she is the broth. Don't waste your time and buy a canister of good drinking water.

Salt. It must be added very little at a time, the broth must remain generally unsalted, otherwise it will be difficult to properly salt the dish. It is better to take sea salt, it tastes better than regular salt.

Bouquet garni- just sprigs of seasonal spicy herbs tied with cotton thread in a bay leaf. The thread can be tied to the handle of the pan, and at the right time, removed in one motion.

The simplest, “small” bouquet garni is 3 sprigs of parsley, 3 sprigs of thyme, 1 sprig of celery and 1 bay leaf. For seafood risotto, you can add a sprig of dill, and for chicken risotto - 3-4 tarragon leaves.

Vegetables and roots. Must be clean and not limp.

How to cook broth for risotto?

Wash the chicken thoroughly, chop it into pieces, put it in a saucepan and cover with cold water with a pinch of salt. Chicken frames can be placed in a very hot oven for 5 minutes, then placed in a pan and filled with water. The resulting broth will have a richer taste and golden color. Lightly crush the peppercorns with the flat of a knife blade. Cut the carrots and onions in half and place in a dry frying pan preheated over medium heat. Cook until charred. Place the pan over high heat. As soon as it boils and foam appears, reduce the heat and carefully remove the foam with a slotted spoon. When the foam stops, add vegetables and spices to the pan. Cover and cook with a slight bubbling sound for about 2 hours. In 30 min. until ready, pour in the dry wine, if using, lower the bouquet garni into the broth in the last three minutes. Remove when broth is ready. Strain the finished broth through a sieve, pour into a clean saucepan and cool. Refrigerate for 1 hour and carefully skim off any congealed fat.

Rice for risotto

Rice for risotto Not everyone is suitable, but only three varieties: arborio, carnaroli and vialone nano. In addition to the fact that the varieties are Italian, they have one more thing in common - they contain two types of starch. The one on the surface of the rice grain is called “amylopectin”, and the one on the inside is called “amylose”. Amylopectin is soft and mixes quickly with water to create a creamy and runny texture. Amylose allows you to cook rice to an “al dente” state, which literally means “to the tooth” - this is when the completely cooked rice grain remains a little hard in the very center. God forbid you wash such rice!!!

When buying risotto rice, pay attention to the packaging and the amount of cracked or broken grains. Reputable manufacturers often even vacuum-pack in a double layer of polyethylene; the result is a kind of brick, resistant to most blows of fate. Italians sometimes label rice simply as “rice for risotto”, without specifying the variety - with a 90% probability there will be arborio inside the pack. In addition to these, there are many varieties of rice in the world that are suitable for making risotto.

Cheese for risotto

Cheese for risotto it takes a little, but it has to be good.

The main requirement is that the cheese must belong to the small “grana” family of cheeses. There are only three such cheeses: Parmigiano Reggiano, also called Parmesan, Grana Padano and the very rare Trentingrana. But experiments are also possible. It is important to remember that risotto is primarily a rice dish, and cheese should only accompany its taste, and not conduct it. Italians, as a rule, do not use cheese in risotto with seafood or fish.

Wine for risotto

To prepare a large pan of risotto, you need about half a glass of dry white wine. There are actually two requirements for it - it must be dry and inexpensive.

Oil for risotto

Good creamy oil for risotto no less important than cheese. Because it is what transforms the creamy consistency of risotto from a figure of speech into reality. Risotto is a dish of the Italian North, where there were never olive trees. Only cows.

Onions for risotto

Use white or yellow onions for risotto. Don't be too economical - the base of the onion must be cut mercilessly so that only the juicy onion pulp gets into the risotto. It should be chopped very, very, very finely, because there is nothing worse than a ridiculously large piece of onion in the delicate texture of this dish.

Saffron for risotto

One of the most expensive spices in the world, 1 gram costs more than $10. You should buy factory-packed saffron, preferably not ground. The idea of going to the nearest market and buying half a glass of saffron is, believe me, a bad idea. One gram is enough for 40 servings of risotto. Take a couple of pinches of saffron, put it in a glass and pour hot broth over it. Leave on for half an hour. The resulting orange infusion is exactly what you need.

How to cook risotto

First, place a saucepan of broth over low heat until it simmers gently.

The first stage - preparing the soffritto - base for rice and everything else. You heat the oil in a frying pan, add the onion - as well as other vegetables used - and fry the whole thing over medium heat until the onion is soft and translucent, but by no means browned. Remember, it should lose color, not change it.

The second stage is called "tostatura". You pour the rice into the pan - in one quick circular motion, stir it with the onion and oil and cook for about 30 seconds. Ideally, all the rice should be soaked in oil so that the outside of the rice darkens, but the core remains white. When this happens, you need to pour in the wine, stir and continue cooking, stirring continuously, until the smell of alcohol disappears - or until all the liquid is absorbed.

Step three - adding broth to risotto. Once the rice has absorbed the wine, start adding the hot broth. Take a ladle, scoop out the broth and pour it in a quick circular motion into the pan with the rice. Take a large, preferably a wooden spoon or spatula and use it to stir the broth and rice. After about thirty seconds, repeat stirring. Repeat in this manner until almost all the liquid has been absorbed into the rice. Pour in a ladle of broth again and start stirring again. As a result of this constant stirring of rice with boiling broth, the outer starch is separated from the rice grains.

When the rice is about half cooked and about half of the broth remains, add the main ingredient to the risotto. In the case of Milanese risotto - just that same glass of broth with saffron. Then continue adding broth and stirring. In other recipes it could be mushrooms, seafood, etc. After 17 minutes of stirring and topping up, remove the pan from the heat and leave completely alone for exactly 1 minute. After this, it will be time for the last stage, called "mantecatura", when cold butter, cut into small cubes, and finely grated cheese are added to the risotto, and the entire resulting mass is quickly kneaded until completely homogeneous. The risotto is then placed on warm plates and served instantly.

Unanswered questions

Two questions remain unclear: What is the correct ratio of rice to broth? and when should risotto be seasoned?

Here are the answers.

Ideal Rice to Broth Ratio- for every 100 grams of rice you need to take 500 ml of broth. It should also be borne in mind that it is best to prepare risotto from 400 grams of rice and 2 liters of broth, which is 4 large servings or 6 small ones; This amount will fit in a large frying pan. It is almost impossible to cook 1 serving of risotto (you will have to chase the rice around the frying pan, which will try to burn every minute) and very difficult - 10 servings at a time (in this case, cooking will be more like rowing). If you need to make more than 4 servings of risotto, just use another pan.

Season risotto with salt and pepper First of all, you need to be very careful, since the cheese used in the preparation already contains a significant amount of salt, which, in principle, may be quite enough - for example, if the cheese is very aged. However, after finishing the mantecatura, you should taste the risotto - if the result seems like it needs more salt and pepper, add them, quickly stir again and serve the risotto.

Pietro Rongoni is an Italian chef working in Moscow. In his book dedicated to risotto and pasta, he shares the secrets of preparing Italian dishes. Let's try to prepare 5 different risottos according to classic recipes and under the guidance of a master!

Cooking rice is quite difficult. Even chefs have a hard time, especially if this skill is not part of their native tradition. I come from the north of Italy, and rice is still more popular there than in the south. I don't want to say that southerners can't cook it, but in general it's our northern culture.

I adore risotto, I love cooking it, and I enjoy the fact that Russians are gradually beginning to appreciate this dish, which was previously completely unknown in Russia. But the difficulty is that rice is not a paste that you can leave on the stove while you prepare the sauce. You need to keep an eye on the rice and stir it all the time. This is especially unpleasant in the summer, in the unbearable heat: you stand over the stove for 15 minutes and can’t look away for a second!

Rice in risotto retains its shape. But for this it is important to be able to maintain a balance: the rice should be both not hard and not loose. Risotto that is too dry is difficult to digest, and too liquid - well, it’s porridge, not risotto. The secret to achieving such a balance seems to be simple; it lies in the gradual addition of broth in the required volume. But this skill comes with experience. If you add a large portion of broth at once, the rice will quickly reach readiness, and the broth will not have time to evaporate. Therefore, what will you get? It will turn out to be porridge. You should always try what you cook and, based on this, act further.

As a matter of principle, we do not boil rice in boiling water, as is done in other countries - we gradually bring it to readiness. Boiling rice or simmering it in a small amount of liquid are completely different things.

There is a saying: rice is born and dies in water. When it is boiled, it loses its beneficial properties; they all remain in the water. And in risotto, amino acids and proteins are preserved. Boiled rice with sauce is often served as a side dish among the French and many other peoples. In Russia, the first foreign cooks were the French, so the procedure for preparing rice here is the same as in France. And in Italian cuisine, rice is the first dish, and the sauce is already mixed with the rice during cooking.

Do you know what advantages rice has over pasta? It can be combined with any ingredients. Open the refrigerator, take out four of any food, add them to properly cooked rice - and get a brilliant risotto! Of course, I’m exaggerating, after all, not everything can be added, but... almost everything. This trick doesn't work with pasta. In general, if risotto is made with soul, it cannot be tasteless, and this is an axiom that does not require proof!

Risotto bianco

This risotto without additional ingredients is white risotto. To prepare risotto, the pan must be old, used and only for rice. The broth that is poured into the risotto as it cooks should be hot, but not boiling. It is better to cook rice at a constant temperature, avoiding sudden changes.

300 g rice
50 g butter
40 g onion
40 g grated parmesan
1 liter vegetable broth
100 ml dry white wine
20 g extra virgin olive oil
salt pepper

For 4 persons

In a cold frying pan, preferably cast iron and old, put oil - olive or butter (or a mixture of both), then finely chopped onion.

Comment on the article "All the secrets of real risotto from an Italian chef: 5 recipes"

Thanks for the recipes. But like another commentator, I’m not very impressed with rice. I can eat it with pleasure in sushi (or whatever it is correctly called when rice is wrapped in fish, etc.). But sometimes, of course, you have to cook it when all the other side dishes get boring)

07.11.2015 18:31:30,

Total 2 messages .