By Marcus Coates, @homeinRiyadh, 17h June 2023
Risotto
First up, let me say it’s rice to meet you! Now, why bother making risotto?
Risotto is a great comfort food: it’s creamy, filling, and instantly elevates the mood. It’s also pretty easy to make, with few ingredients to worry about or prepare. You’ll be in and out of the kitchen in under an hour – that includes prep, creating, and serving … not bad, right?
Is anything else good about risotto? Well, Rissotto can be eaten as a starter or main course … so add more or less to your plate as required. And you can make a vegetarian version by swapping chicken stock for vegetable stock. It’s that simple.
Be warned, though, after eating too much risotto, you’ll likely be overcome with an urge to browse travel sites, and before you know it, you’ll be booking a trip to Italy to eat more risotto. That could work out an expensive meal.
Ingredient (6 portions)
1 x diced onion
5 x cloves of garlic
1 x pack of mushrooms
2 x litres of stock (vegetable or chicken as preferred)
½ x pack of Arborio rice
1 x bunch of basil
1 x large knob of butter
50g grated parmesan
Seasoning
Preparation Method
There are essentially four phases to this tasty delight.
1. Prepare the ingredients
2. Mix the ingredients
3. Serve the risotto
4. Eat the risotto
Phase 1. Preparing the ingredients
First up, dice the onion and place it in a pan. Next, mince the garlic cloves. After that, chop the mushrooms and add to the pan. For the basil, wash and place to the side for later.
The second phase is just making the stock. The easy way to do this is to place a couple of chicken stock cubes into a mixing jug and add hot water.
Phase 2. Mix the ingredients
Place the pan on the stove on medium heat and add a good splash of olive oil to saute the mushroom, garlic and onion mix. Next up, add the Arborio rice and stir in.
Now comes the therapeutic part: add enough stock just to cover and keep stirring to ensure the rice doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. Once the stock has been absorbed into the rice, add more to cover the rice and repeat the stirring. You’ll need to do this a few times. If it’s cooking too fast, turn down the heat. Now and then, taste the rice to see if it’s cooked and add seasoning to elevate the taste. You should leave it slightly al dente so the rice has some 'bite'.
When the rice looks cooked to your taste, add a generous knob of butter and the parmesan cheese, then tear the basil up and throw it into the mix.
Phase 3. Serve the result
The Arborio rice should absorb most of the stock but remain creamy. Take a spoon and place a generous amount in the centre of each plate. You can also garnish with extra parmesan and basil to increase the levels of indulgence.
Phase 4. Eat the results
Eating is probably the phase that people enjoy the most — unless you like the therapeutic stirring. Let’s see if you can rice to the occasion!
Pro Tip 1:
If you have vegetarian friends, swap out chicken stock for vegetable stock. And if you want to go pro, make your own chicken or vegetable stock instead of using instant stock cubes – the taste will elevate tenfold.
Pro Tip 2:
The more butter and cheese, the more creamy and moreish the dish.
Pro Tip 3:
Make an arugula and tomato salad, along with some toasted garlic bread, place on some opera music, google some images of Northern Italy, and you’ll transport family, friends, loved ones or yourself into gourmet heaven — a virtual Lombardy break without the travel expense. As warned in the opening paragraph, though, this may cause a sudden urge to book a European holiday and experience the real thing.
Pro Tip 4:
Try different varieties of mushrooms: I used oyster mushrooms, but shitake, morels, porcini, trumpet, chanterelle, or field mushrooms all can add a distinct taste to the dish.
Joke:
Q: What do you call a Greek philosopher who loves rice?
A: Arisotto!
Pun:
Don’t worry; even if you said you didn’t like risotto, I’d arborio no resentment towards you!
Risotto Fact:
The world’s largest serving of risotto weighing 7.51 tonnes (16,556.69 lb) was made by the Ricegrower’s Association of Australia and displayed at First Fleet Park, Circular Quay, Sydney, Australia on 6 November 2004
Source: https://justfunfacts.com ‘Interesting Facts about risotto’
Wow! Australians sure love risotto.
Kommentit