A classic, wonderful dish that's a lot simpler than you might think
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For some reason, risotto has an aura of difficulty surrounding it.
"It takes forever"
"You can't leave it alone"
"It's hard to make."
Total poop! Yes - it needs a bit of stirring every so often, but basically - it takes 5 minutes prep and 20-30 minutes cooking. Taste as you go, don't try to put all the stock in at once and you'll get the perfect risotto.
For me, the ideal risotto has a sharpness to balance the rich, thick creaminess; the rice is soft enough to eat, but with a slightly hard nuttiness. The al dente: you get from adding the stock in stages, keeping an eye on it and tasting as you go. The sharpness is from the white wine as well as the lemon zest and juice.
INGREDIENTS
roughly 200g arborio rice - you can use carnaroli, long grain, basmati - whatever you have. I think arborio or carnaroli give the best results for texture
olive oil
butter
onion
chicken stock - about 1 litre
lemon
white wine
chicken breast
parsley
pepper
Pecorino cheese
Watch the video
METHOD
Finely slice the onion
Put a good glug of olive oil in a large frying pan
Melt a good knob of butter in it
Add the onions - cook for 5 minutes till they're soft
Add the rice, stirring it through
Cook till the rice is translucent - don't let it burn!
Add about a glass of white wine
Stir.
Contrary to the myth, you don't need to stir risotto constantly - just quite a lot! You're breaking down and releasing the starch, which is what makes it creamy
NB - there is NO CREAM in risotto!
When the wine is absorbed and the rice is gloopy, add some stock
We'll be adding it a bit at a time just enough to cover the rice, then stir, stir, stir and let the rice absorb it
Meanwhile, zest the lemon and chop the zest
Cut the chicken into bite-sized chunks
When the first bit of stock is absorbed, add the lemon zest, some more stock, and...
Stir, stir, stir
Add the chicken
If this was prawn, mackerel, mushroom or whatever risotto, we'd add those things later. Chicken risotto is different - we want to make sure the chicken is cooked. You could cook it first, but I prefer the texture doing it this way
When it's gloopy, more stock, and add the juice from the lemon
Stir, stir, stir
When it's gloopy, check the rice. If it's still not done, add more stock, stir and simmer. If it IS done...
Add a good helping of pepper, the chopped parsley and a lot of grated Pecorino
The Pecorino and the starch make the risotto beautifully creamy. Pecorino is best as it adds salt, and it melts without going stringy; Parmesan isn't great in risotto.
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