Here’s how some top chefs master the grain

An absolute mainstay of Italian life, risotto (meaning ‘little rice’) is, as chef Valentina Harris says, ‘a real feel-good kind of dish…and also a fantastic stress-reliever to make, because the risotto-cook has to become totally absorbed in preparing the dish and caressing it to perfection.’

In recent years, risottos of every description have become de rigueur on fashionable Modern European menus, but if you’re lucky enough to find it listed, correctly prepared risottos should specify a 20-minute wait whilst they are cooked to order. So be very suspicious if you order one and sit back to enjoy the view, only to find that it arrives in five minutes flat.

Risotto is not only controversial because it’s tough to prepare perfectly – recipe books abound with conflicting advice, and everyone has their own personal view about timing and stirring – but also because of the confusion about which rice to use. In total there are at least sixteen different kinds of rice available in Italy, each with distinctive properties. There are three principle types of risotto rice:

Arborio is the risotto rice most widely available outside Italy. It has a high starch content so it thickens and holds together beautifully while still retaining bite in the middle. It makes the most consistent type of risotto, producing creamy, evenly cooked grains.

Carnaroli rice – known as the king of rice – has long elegant grains. According to chef Georgio Locatelli, who serves the most sublime risottos in his Knightsbridge restaurant Zafferano, it’s the best choice for simple, sophisticated risottos such as saffron or white truffle.

For garnished risottos such as quail or perch Locatelli uses Vialone nano, a much smaller, sturdier grain with a more rounded edge. This is also the favoured grain of Stefano Cavallini, fellow risotto maestro and chef of the ultra-chic Halkin Hotel in London.

Stock
The quality of the stock is paramount. The finished risotto will be suffused with the stock’s flavour so it is essential to use a home-prepared chicken or vegetable stock. Locatelli suggests adding peas to the stock, for a sweeter base, or if you don’t have time to make your own, a top brand name of fresh stock such as Joubert (available in tubs from supermarket chill cabinets). The stock (often with a glass of wine added) should be kept hot in a separate pan on the stove so that it does not lower the temperature of the rice.

Next page: five steps to heaven

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.

Next page: cookery courses

To find out more..
Valentina Harris’s new cookery course (Valentina Villa Cookery Courses) at Tavernalle on the borders of Tuscany, Liguria and Emilia Romagna includes a risotto class, excursions and shopping trips. For details, call: 020 8651 2997; or see www.villavalentina.com

Books for Cooks in Notting Hill, London, offer courses throughout the year. Call 020 7221 1992 for a brochure.

Valvona and Crolla (Edinburgh) are a fantastic Italian-owned deli in Edinburgh. Call 0131 556 6066 for more information. Their website valvonacrolla.co.uk is full of great recipes and tips, and they hold events and demonstrations in the shop.