If you wheel your grocery cart down the rice aisle, you will not find “risotto.” Risotto is not a type of rice—it’s a method used for cooking Arborio or Carnaroli rice. And once you learn how to make risotto using my Risotto-Without-a-Recipe method, you’ll be able to make any kind of risotto simply by adding ingredients and flavorings to this basic technique.
Recipe information
Yield
serves: 4 to 6
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Coat a large saucepan generously with olive oil and add the onions; season with salt and bring the pan to medium-high heat. Cook the onions, stirring frequently, until soft and aromatic, 8 to 10 minutes.
Step 2
Heat the stock in a medium saucepan and keep warm.
Step 3
Add the rice to the onions and stir; toast the rice for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring frequently. The rice should stick a little bit (not a lot) to the bottom of the pan.
Step 4
Add enough of the wine to cover the surface of the rice and cook, stirring frequently, for 3 to 4 minutes or until the rice absorbs the wine.
Step 5
When all the wine has been absorbed, add enough of the hot chicken stock to cover the rice. Season with salt and taste the liquid; it should taste good. Stir frequently until all the stock has been absorbed; repeat this process twice more (for a total of three additions).
Step 6
When the last addition of the stock has been absorbed, taste a couple of grains; the rice should feel cooked but still have a little bite to it, and it should look loose and creamy (add another ladle or two of stock if the rice has tightened up).
Step 7
Remove the pan from the heat and add the Parm and butter, whipping the risotto vigorously until well combined. Brace yourself and really whip the hell out of the rice—the Italian word for this is mantecare, and this is the step the Italians don’t tell you about! This sets the beautiful texture of your risotto, making it tight and creamy at the same time. Serve immediately.
