Risotto like a pro

Five steps to heaven
There are basically five stages that a proper risotto must undergo. Some people who should know better – one of our best-known TV chefs among them – have suggested it can be successfully baked it the oven. Don’t believe it. This is not risotto, it’s rice pudding.

1. Firstly the soffrito is prepared: finely diced onions are gently fried in a large saucepan in butter or preferably olive oil, which is less likely to burn or colour the onions.
2. The tostatura process comes next. This involves heating the uncooked rice in the soffrito to coat the grains in fat and partially seal them or, as Valentina Harris graphically describes this phase, ‘heat the rice until it is hot and bothered and starts to squeak and pop before adding any liquid.’
3. The next stage is known as the cottura.The stock is added gradually to the rice, 1 ladleful at a time, or enough to ensure that the rice is always covered in a veil of liquid. The rice should be stirred continuously and more stock should be added only once the liquid has been absorbed. The cardinal rule is never to drown the rice with too much liquid. It is at this critical stage that the rice releases around 50% of its starch to make a thick, creamy liquid and begins to really soak up the stock.
4. All’onda is the penultimate, and trickiest stage: judging when the rice has cooked to al dente (with a little bite). A cooking risotto should never be covered, and as Cavallini poetically describes in his risotto masterclass recipe in his new book Cucina Essenziale (Pavilion Books), it should roll like a wave (onda) rippling onto the shore.
5. Mantecare is the final stage, when the risotto becomes ‘creamy’, after a little butter is added. The risotto should now rest for three minutes before serving.

Mushroom risotto, preferably made with a mixture of fresh wild mushrooms, is a wonderful winter warming dish, but if fresh chanterelle, cep and porcini are too difficult to come by or too pricey, try mixing dried porcini or morels reconstituted in warm water for twenty minutes, with more commonplace chestnut mushrooms. Valentina Harris suggests adding a small sprig of chopped, fresh rosemary with the mushrooms at the soffrito stage to accentuate their flavour.

Ever since first visiting Venice some fifteen years ago and being intrigued by the seemingly bizarre black soupy dish Venetian businessmen were devouring at lunchtime, napkin tucked firmly under chin, I have been a particular fan of cuttlefish or squid risotto. The colour comes from the ink found in a sac inside the body, which can be bought separately. I like to follow the River Café recipe from their cookbook Italian Kitchen (Ebury Press), which uses dried red chilli and lemon juice to bring out the wonderfully sweet fishy flavour of the squid, and suggests pounding the ink in a pestle and mortar until it is the consistency of double cream. The bodies and tentacles of the fish are cut up and fried separately in the Venetian way. (Incidentally, parmesan cheese is never served with fish risotto. Instead, extra virgin olive oil can be drizzled over.)

Probably the world’s most extravagant risotto is cooked by risotto maestro Gualtieri Marchesi at L’Alberta hotel in Lombardy: his saffron risotto with gold leaf is legendary.

According to celebrity chef Aldo Zilli, it is now fashionable in Italy to use fruit, such as mixed berries with risotto, making an unconventional soffrito with leeks, brown sugar and lime, substituting water and sweet vermouth and/or dessert wine for stock.

Undoubtedly, most Italians would consider it sacrilege to cook up leftover risotto into a pancake. But after adding a beaten egg, small batches can be cooked gently in olive oil until the bottoms are brown and crisp (about 5 minutes) and sprinkled with parmesan for an incredibly moreish risotto snack.

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