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Italian Cooking - A Labor of Love I’ve always thought one of the main reasons Italian food is so popular is because the love that goes into preparing many of the dishes comes through in the flavors. My father used to describe my grandmother’s ritual inspection of each bean for a famous pasta and bean dish discarding any that had the slightest imperfection. She literally would begin cooking a Sunday dinner at eight in the morning which would culminate in a spectacular feast for all and her feelings would be hurt if there were any leftovers. She would say, “Eat; go ahead and finish it. I’m only going to throw it away” whereby my father would jest with his favorite, “Oh, so you’re feeding me garbage?” She was tolerant of his antics but you could see the seriousness in her face and emotion in her eyes when it came to presenting her pride and joy, dinner for the family. It was a labor of love. The classic Italian risotto is just such a labor of love. It’s a full flavored rice dish requiring constant attention or the rice will stick to the bottom of the pan, the heavier the bottom of your pan, the better. It’s quite simple to make but you can’t walk away from it and it has to be served immediately once it’s ready. Its creamy texture is the result of the starch breaking down from the continuous stirring. Traditionally, Italian Arborio rice is used from the Po valley but I believe in flexibility in cooking and using ingredients readily available so I will just as easily make it with medium or long grain rice. The risotto is cooked uncovered on medium high heat beginning with the sauteeing of the mushrooms (an assortment of portabellos, shitakes, other wild or button mushrooms), removing them from the pan, adding a little more butter/oil (1-2 T) and softening some minced onion (half of a small onion or a couple shallots). Add rice, stirring to coat with the fat. When the rice has taken on a pale, golden color, pour in about 1 cup of dry white wine, stirring constantly until the wine is fully absorbed. Add 1/2 cup broth (chicken or vegetable) to the rice (it’s best if you have the broth already warmed in another saucepan), and stir until the broth is absorbed. Continue adding broth 1/2 cup at a time, stirring continuously, until the liquid is absorbed. After the first cup and a half of broth has been added, dissolve a small pinch of saffron (use the threads which you can cut into little pieces with scissors, not the powder) in a cup of the broth and add it to the rice. Continue adding broth 1/2 cup at a time, stirring continuously, until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is al dente, about 20 minutes. The total amount of liquid is somewhere between three to four times the amount of rice since a fair amount will evaporate in the cooking process. Just prior to the rice being finished, add the cooked mushrooms with their liquid. Traditionally, more butter is added at the end but it’s a bit rich for most of our modern tastes so it’s at your discretion. At this point, a cup of freshly grated Parmesan and/or Romano cheese is stirred in along salt and pepper to taste. Fresh parsley or chives make a nice finish if you like. Serve with additional Parmesan to top it off!  |
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Why thank you Lhiannon! During Christmas breaks my mother would make huge pans of lasagne and pizzas and pack them in luggage as care packages when we returned to college. One time, the airport lost my lasagne! They located the luggage and brought it to me the next day. Needless to say I had to invite all my friends over for a major lasagne feast! Thank you for reminding me of that!
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9/11/2007 8:16 pm |
This sounds absolutely DELISH! I adore Italian food...great post!
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Thank you so much sweet surrender! It goes well with Simple yet Elegant Chicken Florentine
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I hope you like it beautifultrouble. There are many variations on the risotto. I just love wild mushrooms!
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9/12/2007 3:02 pm |
Uhmm, l'arborrio del Piemonte, but now grown all over the world. At one time, when I'd go to Italy, I'd come home with at least five pounds of rice. We made it differently than you described. Yours is fusion rissotto. My mother's was called la panissa. Rice and beans. Cooked as you described with chicken broth, but without butter, and heavy on the lard. If you retch with the mention of lard, so do I today, but way back then, il lardo gave the rice a smoothness. How I miss my mother's panissa. Somehow mine does not taste as good as hers. What about you and your grandmother's risotto, are you able to make it as delicious as she did? Aghhhh, to be a child again.....
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You're welcome Kitty! Porcini and shitake sound great to me. Do you substitute anything for the saffron? Yes, there is something very special about Arborio rice for this dish but I think it's such an inspired dish that it brings life to any rice.
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Uhmm, l'arborrio del Piemonte, but now grown all over the world. At one time, when I'd go to Italy, I'd come home with at least five pounds of rice. We made it differently than you described. Yours is fusion rissotto. My mother's was called la panissa. Rice and beans. Cooked as you described with chicken broth, but without butter, and heavy on the lard. If you retch with the mention of lard, so do I today, but way back then, il lardo gave the rice a smoothness. How I miss my mother's panissa. Somehow mine does not taste as good as hers. What about you and your grandmother's risotto, are you able to make it as delicious as she did? Aghhhh, to be a child again..... The dish originated in northern Italy where butter and cheese were always plentiful and many of the classic dishes from that region make heavy use of both. Unfortunately, I never had the pleasure of tasting my grandmother's risotto and my father was not a fan of rice so my mother never made it either. I learned on my own reading countless recipes, experimenting. I tasted so many homemade Italian dishes that I have a sense of when the food comes alive and of course with mushrooms, onions, butter, saffron (I'll leave it out for Kitty), good stock and lots of cheese, you can't go wrong!
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