Riso “in Rosso”
Risotto “in Red” – with Tomato Sauce

Instructions

• 1.

  Putting the stock to boil

  • Vegetable stock* - 1,3lt (see recipe here)

  *in alternative, 1,3lt of boiling water and one stock cube or gel portion. Melt the cubes or gels in boiling water and sieve before use to clean it from undesired pieces of vegetables. Also reduce the amount of salt that follows.

  • Extra vegetable stock - 200ml (to keep at the ready and use if necessary)
  • Salt **- 10gr

  **reduce to taste if you are using stock cubes or gel portions.

  • One small saucepan (3lt)

  Put the vegetable stock to boil on a high heat and add the salt. If you are using stock cubes or stock gel portions, then season the stock to your taste.
  

• 2.

  Preparing the onion and tomato base

  • Butter - 35gr
  • White onions - 2 medium - 110gr
  • Salt - as needed
  • White wine (pinot grigio) - 30ml (part 1 of 2)
  • Tomato passata - 250ml
  • Parmigiano cheese - 40gr
  • Grated black pepper

  • One grater
  • One chopping board
  • One sharp paring knife
  • One sharp chef knife
  • One deep saucepan (4-6lt)

  Put the deep saucepan on low heat with the first amount of butter and let it melt gently and slowly. Meanwhile, mince the onions into a thin and uniform brunoise*.
  When the butter has melted but it has not started frying yet, add the onions and spread them evenly. Keep stirring and let them to absorb the fat.
  Increase slightly the heat and let them start frying gently until they become slightly translucent. Season with salt and black pepper, then keep stirring while they tenderise.
  Increase the heat again and pour in the white wine, which will start sizzling and bubbling. Allow the mixture to reduce till it becomes smooth and it gets a light golden colour setting the heat a bit lower if necessary (it must not brown more than it already has).
  Add the tomato passata. Stir on medium heat for 5 minutes, allowing the ingredients to gently blend in. Lower the heat under the saucepan.
  Grate the parmigiano cheese and set aside.
  

  Note about cutting the onion into brunoise
  

  With a paring knife, chop off the onion’s tip. Clean the roots, halve it and peel off the tunics. Put each half facing down on a chopping board. With either the paring knife or the tip of the chef knife, make vertical cuts - 2millimeters apart from each other - driving the tip of the knife as close to the roots as possible. Hold the onion together with one hand’s fingers, get the chef knife and with a fulcrum movement complete the mincing with narrow cuts.

• 3.

  Toasting the rice (dry method)

  • Rice (arborio)* - 320gr

  *you can also use other type of rice like carnaroli or vialone nano.

  • White wine (pinot grigio) - 80ml (part 2 of 2)

  • One frying pan
  • One wooden spoon or silicon spatula

  While the sauce gets to a gentle simmer, start toasting the rice.
  Toasting the rice is absolutely essential for a good and appropriate final result. If its grain would not be going through this process, instead of a risotto, you would be serving a mushy sticky soup. The exposure of each single rice grain to direct heat will seal its pores allowing the grains to be maintained whole during the cooking. This dry method is the perfectly appropriate for this kind of risotto, since the liquid main flavouring ingredient would not be able to seal the grains. But rice can also be toasted in a fat with a frying flavouring base.
  Spread the rice evenly in the nonstick frying pan and put it on medium-high heat. Keep stirring and tossing the rice so that all its grains will gradually gain a distinctive pearl-white colour in the centre and slightly translucent edges. When ready, the grains will start resisting the stirring lightly and they will make a tingling noise hitting the pan’s sides.
  Now, add the wine all at once and stir so it wets the rice evenly (step 3 - pic. A). Keep stirring while the wine reduces and all the alcohol evaporates, but do not dry completely (since the rice can not be burnet during this process, consider to reduce the heat under the pan).
  Immediately add the rice to the saucepan with the tomato sauce, set the heat on a low power and stir evenly (step 3 - pic. B).
  

• 4.

  Cooking the rice

  • The rice and the sauce
  • Vegetable salted stock - 1,3lt (see recipe here)
  • Extra vegetable salted stock - 200ml (to keep at the ready and use if necessary)

  • One wooden spoon or silicon spatula
  • One ladle

  Make sure the stock is boiling intensely and let the rice soak in the sauce for a couple of minutes, so the aromas will sink into the rice grains and the wine will evaporate completely.
  With the heat set on low power, pour in almost three ladles of stock (step 4 - pic. A). Let it gain the boiling again stirring continuously, while the rice grains gradually absorb the liquids.
  Keep adding stock ladle by ladle making the rice absorb it each time (the stock must be kept boiling, otherwise it will drop the temperature of the mixture and block the cooking). Carefully increase the heat gradually.
  Depending on the type of rice you are using, the cooking will take from 15 to 18 minutes and you will end up with a creamy but steady mixture.
  Check if the rice is cooked: it must be “al dente”. Which means that the grains have to be cooked right to their core, but they still can put up resistance to your chewing. If it tastes still raw and it is too crunchy, carefully add some more stock (from the 200ml extra dose).
  Check the seasoning, correct the salt if necessary and stir (step 4 - pic. B).
  

• 5.

  Binding the rice “all’onda”

  • Butter - 15gr (part 2 of 2)
  • The grated parmigiano cheese - 40gr
  • the cooked rice

  • One wooden spoon or silicon spatula

  Get the saucepan off the heat. Let the rice rest for about three and a half minutes (ratio should be: three minute every kilo of risotto). This resting is essential to stabilize the starch.
  Then, add the butter to the risotto and stir allowing the fat emulsifying with the starchy liquor (step 5 - pic. A). Use the spoon or the spatula to bring the rice from the outside to the centre in large circular movements, collecting it from the bottom and moving it to the top. Add the cheese and stir again to mix it evenly (step 5 - pic. B).
  The mixture will gain consistency becoming creamy and billowy or “all’onda” as we call it in Italian (step 5 - pic. C). If you think it’s still too thick, gradually add small amounts of stock and stir again. That's why it is easier to bind the risotto when it is slightly drier rather than too runny: after adding the butter and the cheese you can't put it back on the hobs.
  Allow it to rest for no more than one minute and then serve it.
  

• Servings : 4
• Ready in : 32
• Course : Starter
• Recipe Type : Gluten Free, Regional, Vegetarian
• Ingredient : Black Pepper, Butter, Onion, Parmigiano Cheese, Rice (arborio), Salt, Tomato passata, Vegetable stock, White wine