Creamy and seductive ... it's not rice, it's risotto
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Saffron Risotto with Butternut Squash. Photo by jon c. Lakey, Salisbury Post.
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By Maggie Blackwell
for the Salisbury Post
Chef Gordon Ramsey seems to talk about risotto quite a bit. If you've watched the popular "Hell's Kitchen" on TV, you've seen him growl at the staff: "@#!, man, the risotto is undercooked!" or, "@#!, man, the risotto is overcooked!"
From this I made two assumptions: (1) risotto must be a challenge to prepare and (2) risotto must be pretty popular as the best kitchens are making a lot of it.
A quick tour on the Internet proves the second assumption true. Emeril has a recipe for it. Barefoot Contessa. Paula Deen. Rachael Ray. Wolfgang Puck. Bobby Flay. So I set out to prove — or disprove — the first assumption: Risotto must be a challenge to prepare.
A little background first. I learned I had been pronouncing it wrong for quite some time. (As if I use the word much at all. In fact, I don't think I had said it until I said, "How about an article on risotto?") Although I thought it was riss-OH-toe, apparently the correct pronunciation is riss-AH-toe. Ah.
Risotto hails from northern Italy, where they use it similarly to pasta. It's a creamy rice dish and often has fresh vegetables cooked into it. In spring, risotto might include green peas or asparagus. In summer, look for tomatoes and zucchini. Fall might bring risotto with mushrooms, and winter risotto could feature slowly cooked tender meat.
We all know that some rice cooks up stickier than others. Our family usually likes brown basmati rice, cooked so that all the grains sit up individually. Sometimes I think we prefer it just because it infuses the household with a bright popcorn smell. But risotto is a smooth and creamy dish, so the best rice to use is Arborio.
It's important to note that in risotto recipes, the rice called for is uncooked rice. Risotto recipes cook rice quite differently than we are used to. Generally they consist of three steps: sauté vegetables in butter; add rice to butter and vegetables; add warmed stock, ladle by ladle. Stir the risotto continuously so that it absorbs the stock and butter. In some cases, the vegetables are removed from the butter and added back into the risotto later, to prevent overcooking them.
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