Risotto Milanese

Photo Courtesy of The Cellar Door

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I must be honest with you. I am not a fan of classically prepared risotto. When I make it for my family, I cook it until the rice grains show no trace of resistance and there is only a trace amount of liquid left in the bottom of the pan. My risotto of preference becomes a well-flavored pilaf and I am content. That, however, creates a problem when I entertain guests who know how the stuff should really be prepared. Food bloggers should not serve risotto that looks like pilaf, so, ego demands I cave and make the real thing, at least on these occasions when there are visitors at the table. This recently has become my recipe of choice. It was developed by Anne Burrell and it is the recipe I turn to when I have to make s "real" risotto. It makes a nice rice, but I'll have to ready myself for the "it's not done" protests of the Silver Fox and his scion. Here is how Anne's lovely rice is made.


Risotto Milanese...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Anne Burrell

Ingredients:
Extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice
Kosher salt
2 cups Carnaroli or Arborio rice
2 large pinches saffron
3 to 4 cups chicken stock, kept HOT
1-1/2 to 2 cups dry white wine
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 to 3/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Directions:
1) Coat a large saucepan generously with olive oil over medium heat. Add onions and salt and sweat them until translucent, about 5 minutes. Bring the pan to a medium-high heat. Add the rice and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, letting rice slightly stick to bottom of pan and scraping it off. It should also sound crackly.
2) Add saffron to hot chicken stock. Stock will turn bright yellow.
3) Add wine to pan until it covers surface of rice. Season with salt and cook over a medium-high heat, stirring continuously until wine has absorbed into rice. Add saffron chicken stock to pan until it covers rice. Cook over a medium-high heat, stirring continuously until stock has absorbed into rice.
4) Repeat process two more times with hot saffron chicken stock. When third addition of stock has absorbed and rice is very creamy, bite a couple grains of rice to be sure it is cooked perfectly. If it is still a little crunchy, add a little more stock and cook rice for another couple of minutes. When rice is cooked perfectly, remove it from the heat.
5) Toss in butter and Parmigiano-Reggiano and "whip the heck out of it." The rice should be creamy but still flow and hold its own shape. Serve immediately. Yield: 4 to 6 servings.

                    

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