Italian cuisine

Risotto alla milanese

Name: Risotto alla milanese
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Italian cuisine
Ingredients: 320 g Carnaroli rice; 1.2 l Stock; 1 Onion; 120 ml Dry white wine; 80 g Butter; 80 g Parmesan; 1 pinch Saffron; to taste Salt

A saffron risotto built on stock and near-constant stirring, which is what pulls the starch out of the rice and makes it creamy.

Prep: 10 min
Cook: 25 min
Total: 35 min
Difficulty: Medium

Servings

Units

Ingredients

Carnaroli rice320 g
Stock — kept hot1.2 l
Onion — finely chopped1
Dry white wine120 ml
Butter — cold80 g
Parmesan — grated80 g
Saffron1 pinch
Saltto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1
Steep the saffron in a ladle of hot stock and set it aside. Keep the rest of the stock at a bare simmer — cold stock stops the cooking.
2 min
2
Melt half the butter and sweat the onion over low heat until soft and translucent without letting it colour, about eight minutes.
8 min
3
Add the rice and stir for a couple of minutes until the grains are translucent at the edges and milky in the centre. This is the tostatura, and it keeps the grains intact.
2 min
4
Pour in the wine and let it evaporate completely — the smell of alcohol has to go.
2 min
5
Add the stock a ladle at a time, stirring, waiting until the rice has nearly absorbed it before the next. Around eighteen minutes, until the grain is soft outside with a slight bite in the middle.
18 min
6
Stir in the saffron infusion, take the pan off the heat and beat in the cold butter and parmesan, shaking the pan hard. The risotto should spread slowly across the plate.
2 min

About the dish

The creaminess of a risotto is starch, not cream. Carnaroli or arborio rice gives it up gradually if the stock goes in a ladle at a time and the pan is stirred: each addition should almost evaporate before the next.

The saffron is not for colour. It is steeped in hot stock in advance so it opens up, and added late — a long simmer takes the aroma with it.

Worth knowing

— A finished risotto does not wait: serve it straight away or the rice carries on cooking and turns to porridge.
— Salt the stock rather than the pan — the rice absorbs the liquid whole, and salting at the end is not the same thing.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories: 560 kcal
Protein: 15 g
Fat: 22 g
Carbs: 71 g