Risotto: Well Worth the Wait

story and recipe by Alexia Nader
photo by Olivia Coffey

Here’s why you should take the time to make risotto - and a recipe to show you how.

When it gets cold enough to appreciate stirring something in a steamy pan for thirty minutes, preparing risotto is the perfect way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon. Like many Italian primi, making risotto is labor intensive.

If you want to do it right, you may need three hours for the preparation and enjoyment of the meal. If you want the risotto for lunch, you might have to eat at 4pm instead of 1pm. However, if you take pleasure in the cooking process, your risotto will be perfect.

From the time when Italians gathered on Sundays to eat multi-course, half-day-long lunches, risotto was considered a piatto unico – a complete meal in itself. Risotto is so satis fying that you might not want to eat anything else for the rest of the day. Almost all risotto dishes are made with a round, medium-grained rice called arborio. Toasting the grains in butter and oil and gradually adding broth really differentiates a risotto from standard rice. Wine, olive oil, and butter should always be involved; they’ll make your kitchen smell good and the conversation lively.

Almost anything can be incorporated into a risotto. Although there are definitely some classics such as the saffron-flavored risotto alla Milanese, exotic risotto dishes show up on the menus of even the most avant-garde restaurants. This recipe is for a more traditional mushroom risotto. In Italy, this dish would be cooked with porcini mushrooms, whose meaty flavor adds another dimension to the dish, but regular button mushrooms still do the trick and are less expensive.

Risotto Ai Fungi
1 c. arborio rice
8 oz. button mushrooms, washed and sliced
1 cube vegetable bouillon
½ c. butter
1 c. dry white wine
½ bunch parsley
1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
½ c. freshly grated parmesan
Salt to taste

In an oversized skillet, heat olive oil and butter for 2 minutes. Add mushrooms and sauté over medium heat. salt to taste. When mushrooms are tender, remove them from pan using a slotted spoon and set them aside.

Keeping the pan on medium heat, add rice to the butter and olive oil. Toast rice for 4 minutes, then add white wine. When the wine evaporates, add one ladle full of boil ing broth to risotto and stir gently. When liquid is absorbed and the sauce appears creamy, add another ladle of broth. Repeat this process, stirring constantly, until risotto has fully expanded and sauce begins to thicken.

Let risotto simmer on low heat for 5 min utes, then add mushrooms and chopped parsley. Stir in the parmesan over low heat. Top with additional parmesan and serve.

Leftover Tip: If you have leftover risotto, refrigerate imme diately. The next day, form patties with it and pan-fry in olive oil. Delizioso!