Essential Risotto Recipe
My partner Karim, is Italian and a chef! He will kindly be offering many recipes to the site, all easy to follow, cheap, easily found ingredients and most importantly delicious!!
Cooking from scratch doesn't have to feel like a chore, or mean restriction. We can experiment, enjoy every sensation that food has to offer, whilst being time conscious so it can fit into a busy life!
Here's Karim's 'Essential Risotto Recipe', perfect to impress a new date, feed a big family on the cheap (simply double if needed), or to enjoy for one after a long day at work! It's a multi-tasking wonder!
This is the basic risotto recipe, then dependent on the season you can use whichever veg takes your liking, just cook the veg before you start the rice and add in at the highlighted step where you add your 'flavour'!
Serves 2-3 people..
Ingredients
Half and Onion or 1 Shallot
200g Arborio, Vialone Nano
0.5 cup of white wine
1.5 ltr of water or vegetable stock (we normally just use water, much easier!!!)
70-100g of parmesan.
(optional 50g of butter)
Method
Begin by dicing the onion as finely as possible.
Heat a sauce pan with the olive oil, and add the onions.
Cook for 2-3mins, stirring occasionally. Without giving colour to the onion.
Then add the rice and continue stirring as the rice thats for another minute.
Then, add the wine and allow it to cook off. (evaporate)
Now, begin adding the liquid of choice. Add a little at a time, but enough to cover the rice.
Keep stirring almost continuously and add more liquid as it evaporates, carry on this process for 16-18minutes.
The rice should be cooked perfectly. Still with a little bite.
This is when you can stir through your pre-cooked veg, or fish or 'flavour' of choice. Some of our favourites are courgettes, which you can pan fry first in a little olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper, before you start on the rice. Or we will do a mushroom option, my favourite are porcini, (buy dried and re-hydrate them,) or just some button, or portobello, cook the same way as the courgettes. then add at this stage. Or during squash season, oven cook squash, with lots of garlic, salt and olive oil. Then add to the rice with some sage!!
Now add, 70-100g of parmesan plus and optional 50g knob of butter
When you stir the rice it should be like molten lava, the rice should move on its own and be still slightly liquid-y. Not a solid mass