Directions
- Add stock to saucepan and heat. (keep a ladle close by) you want stock hot but not boiling.
- In separate pot (heavy bottom cast iron pot works best, like le creuset) heat to medium heat, add olive oil and diced onions and saute’ for 3–5 minutes until translucent. Keep stirring you don’t want to brown them! If they start to brown lower the heat.
- Add the rice and stir into the onions until it is fully coated with oil. Saute for 1–2 minutes until you start to smell that delish nutty toasted aroma, the color will slightly change off white but you do not want to brown or burn the rice.
- Add the wine and stir. Continue to cook until fully absorbed.
- Add a ladle of the chicken stock just before rice is dry and continue this step, ladle by ladle stirring gently to make sure it does not brown on bottom. Turn down heat if it begins to brown. Continue this for 20 minutes. Do not rush it, add the stock, stir while it absorbs and then add another just before it is dry.
- The rice will begin to get creamy, I recommend tasting the rice at 20 minutes. You are looking for tender rice but still slightly al dente like pasta, not mushy or crunchy.
- Add the butter and parmesan. Parmesan is salty so wait to add salt until you have added the parmesan and add a little salt at a time and tasting until you love it.
- I love freshly cracked black pepper at the table.
Recipe Note
- Sauté onions until translucent, not brown. This often takes lower heat
- Coat the rice with oil, don’t brown it
- Don’t let the rice dry out, add your next ladle of broth before the previous has been fully absorbed; if you begin to burn the starches on the bottom, this something you won’t be able to recover from
- Cook low and slow, a simmer instead of a boil; otherwise you risk absorbing all of the broth before the rice is fully cooked.
- Don’t walk away, you will need to continue to stir and add broth for about 20 minutes. (have a glass of wine nearby to keep you company)
- Taste the rice near the end to get a feel for how the rice transforms.
- Parmesan cheese is quite salty so make sure you taste the risotto before you over season; if this does happen don’t fret, a nice squeeze of lemon will be your savior.
- Start with more stock than you need. It is easier to save leftover stock then to heat more in a pinch.
