Bead The Finest Together In A Risotto!!

Chef Emanuele Lattanzi of The Oberoi, Bombay.
Risotto is north Italy�s favourite food. Chef Emanuele Lattanzi of The Oberoi, Bombay, cooks six recipes specially for UpperCrust and runs through the intricacies of the dish.

Home to many well-known European cultures from the Greeks and Romans to the Normans, Italy is one of those interesting countries, developed but still untouched by time. Shaped like a boot, this landscape comprises the Po River valley, the Italian Peninsula and the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia.

Let me now explain Italy via its cuisine. Divided into two parts, the north and south, Italian food habits differ vastly in both regions. In my opinion, northern and southern Italian cuisine is differentiated primarily with the Northern regions using more butter and cream and the food being slightly heavier. This, I believe, is due to the north being the colder part of the country. The North favours polenta, mascarpone, grana padano, parmigiano cheese and risotto. Coastal northern and central regions are a bridge between north and south and often use tortellini, ravioli and prosciutto. The south has a lighter cuisine, traditionally known for its extensive use of tomato, mozzarella, cacciacavallo, and pecorino cheeses, extra virgin olive oil, vegetables, cous cous and pasta. This lighter style of cooking may owe itself to the warmer Mediteranean weather in the South.

The risotto finds its origin in North Italy, predominantly Eastern Piedmont, Western Lombardy, and Veneto where rice paddies are abundant. It is today the traditional style of cooking rice all across Italy.

There are three types of rice, the Vialone, Arborio and Ceannaroli. These are short, barrel shaped grains of rice, with Arborio being the most recognized outside Italy. I personally prefer the Vialone, from Veneto, which is the rice that I use at Vetro.

I believe that a well prepared risotto can be the most rich and flavoursome dish you have ever eaten. A risotto should be made with great care. The special rice used in the preparation lends its starches to the cooking liquid and this gives the risotto its rich consistency.

The magic behind a well cooked risotto starts with the rice being toasted in soffrito (chopped onion, garlic and celery), with butter till it is golden brown after which white wine is added. Adding the stock�this is where you start making the difference. The stock depends on the main ingredient for the risotto - e.g. a fish stock for a seafood risotto. Almost any ingredient can be added to a risotto, from seafood to vegetables, from meat to fruits and even nuts and chocolates. The only ingredient I strongly recommend you do not add to a risotto, is pepper - be it white or black.

The stock should be added slowly and portion by portion. This ensures proper absorption of the flavour of the stock and the right consistency of the risotto. Keep stirring as you add the stock. The stock along with the rice takes about twenty minutes to cook completely.

Some of the popular risottos include an exotic preparation called the Risotto al Barolo, made with red wine. Italians call it the "Wine of kings, and king of wines". The Risotto al nero di seppia is a specialty of the Veneto region, made with cuttlefish that have been cooked with their ink-sacs intact.

Some of my personal favourites include Risotto ostriche e champagne concasse e rucola (Rice with oyester, champagne and raocket salad) , Risotto ai funghi di bosco e quaglia (Rice with wild mushroom and quails) and the Risotto mantegato alle fave e capesante (Rice with scallops and broad beans).

At Vetro, The Oberoi, Mumbai, I have put some traditional varieties together. The Risotto con fungi misti e scaglie di castelmango has an assortment of mushrooms and is finished with cowsmilk cheese. On the other hand Risotto ai frutti di mare e zucchini grigliale provides an opportunity to taste exotic flavours of the sea with prawns, squids, scallops, octopus, zucchini and cherry tomatoes. Vetro�s Risotto Milanaise, the authentic saffron based dish of the fashion capital Milan, uses the aromatic spice derived from the flower of the Mediterranean plant called saffron crocus.

A risotto can be simple and nutritious or luxurious and sinful. It�s an old Italian saying that rice takes birth in water and attains salvation in wine. I am sure once you cook your own risotto, you will swear by this famous belief.

RECIPES

Risotto ostrichee champagne concasse e rucola

Ingredients:

200 g rice
10 g onion
40 g butter
60 ml champagne
16 nos oyster
1 nos tomato
10 g basil
50 g rocket
350 ml fish or vegetable stock
5 g extra virgin olive oil
Salt to taste

Method:

  1. Toast the chopped onion in a pan with butter (about 10g) and olive oil (3 g).
  2. Add rice once the onion is golden brown.
  3. Stir till the rice gets golden brown and then add champagne.
  4. Add fish stock and salt after the champagne evaporates.
  5. Cook for 13 minutes. Keep adding the stock and stir.
  6. In another container put 16 oysters and marinate with basil slice, tomato and the remaining champagne.
  7. When the rice is cooked completely, rest it for one minute and add the above mixture of the oysters.
  8. Finish with rocket salad, remaining butter and extra virgin olive oil
  9. Mix all.
  10. Buon Appetito!

Risotto caprese

Ingredients:

200 g rice, 10 g onion
40 g butter, 40 ml white wine
20 ml extra virgin olive oil, 200 g cherry tomato
150 g fresh mozzarella, 30 g parmesan cheese
5 g basil, 250 ml vegetable stock
50 ml tomato sauce, salt and pepper to taste

Method:

  1. Toast the chopped onion in a pan with butter (about 10 g) and olive oil (3 g).
  2. Once the onion is golden brown add rice. Stir till the rice gets golden brown and then add white wine.
  3. After the wine has evaporated, add cherry tomato and one leaf of basil.
  4. Add vegetable stock, along with salt. After about 6 minutes add tomato sauce. Cook for another 7 minutes and keep stirring.
  5. When the rice is cooked add butter, basil, extra virgin olive oil and mozzarella cheese in cubes and mix it all.
  6. Finish with shaved parmesan cheese.

Risotto allo zafferano con punte di asparagi e castelmagno

Ingredients:

200 g rice, 10 gms onion
40 g butter
40 ml white wine
20 ml extra virgin olive oil
160 g scallops
150 g asparagus
3 g saffron
50 g castelmanio cheese
250 ml fish and vegetable stock
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

  1. Toast the chopped onion in a pan with butter (about 10g) and olive oil (3 g).
  2. Once the onion is golden brown add rice and asparagus with the peak chopped and kept away for garnish. Stir till the rice gets golden brown and then add white wine.
  3. After the wine is evaporated, add vegetable and fish stock, along with salt and a pinch of saffron. Cook for 13 minutes and keep stirring.
  4. In another pan saut� the scallops with olive oil, white wine, salt and pepper.
  5. Rest the rice for a minute after its cooked completely.
  6. Finish the rice with butter and extra virgin olive oil.
  7. Plate the risotto and place the scallops on top.
  8. Finish with blanched asparagus peak that was kept for garnish, along with shaven castelmanio cheese.

Risotto con verdurine primaverili mantegato al tartufo nero di Norcia

Ingredients:

200 g rice, 10 gms onion
40 g butter, 40 ml white wine
20 ml extra virgin olive oil
20 g cherry tomato
50 g asparagus, 50 g carrots
50 g zucchini, 50 g eggplant
50 g red pepper, 5 ml truffle oil
10 g truffle paste
30 g Pecorino cheese, 5 g basil
250 ml vegetable stock
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

  1. Toast the chopped onion in a pan with butter (about 10g) and olive oil (3 g).
  2. Once the onion is golden brown add rice. Stir till the rice gets golden brown and then add white wine.
  3. After the wine is evaporated, add cherry tomato and one leaf of basil.
  4. Add vegetable stock, along with salt. Cook for 13 minutes and keep stirring.
  5. Cut all the vegetables in strips and put them in a separate pan. Saut� with extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.
  6. Rest the risotto for one minute and add the above mixture. Mix again.
  7. Now add butter, truffle oil and truffle paste and mix it together into the risotto.
  8. Finish with Pecorino cheese shaving.

Risotto mantegato ai fegatini di pollo e formaggio di capra

Ingredients:

200 g rice, 10 g onion
40 g butter
40 ml white wine
20 ml extra virgin olive Oil
160 g chicken liver
30 ml balsamic vinegar of Modena
120 g fresh goat�s cheese
120 g green zucchini
40 g chicken juice
40 ml Chicken broth
210 ml vegetable stock
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

  1. Toast the chopped onion in a pan with butter (about 10g) and olive oil (3 g).
  2. Once the onion is golden brown add chopped zucchini and rice. Stir till the rice gets golden brown and then add white wine
  3. After the wine is evaporated, add chicken and vegetable stock, along with salt. Cook for 13 minutes and keep stirring.
  4. When the rice is cooked completely, rest it for one minute.
  5. In the meanwhile in another pan, saut� the chicken liver (cleaned) with little olive oil, balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper.
  6. It is important not to over cook the Chicken liver.
  7. Plate the risotto and mix with butter, olive oil and grated goat's cheese.
  8. Cut the chicken liver into two and place on top of the risotto.
  9. Finish with chicken juice spread over the risotto.
  10. Buon Appetito!

Risotto ai funghi di bosco e quaglia

Ingredients:

200 g rice
10 g onion
40 g butter
160 g wild mushroom
1 clove garlic
4 nos quails
40 g chopped parsley
40 ml red wine
20 ml extra virgin olive oil
40 g Quails juice
40 ml chicken broth
210 ml vegetable stock
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

  1. Toast the chopped onion in a pan with butter (about 10g) and olive oil (3 g).
  2. Once the onion is golden brown add rice. Stir till the rice gets golden brown and then add red wine.
  3. After the wine is evaporated, add chicken and vegetable stock along with salt. Cook for 13 minutes and keep stirring.
  4. Halfway during the 13 minute cooking procedure, add stock and mushroom.
  5. The mushroom should be saut�ed with garlic, parsley, salt and pepper.
  6. Clean the quails and saut� in another pan in olive oil, salt and pepper, while the rice rests after being cooked completely.
  7. Finish the rice with butter and chopped parsley.
  8. Plate the risotto and add the quails on top.
  9. Finish with quail juice spread across the risotto.

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