Risotto Masterclass with Alessandro Pavoni

History of Italian Risotto

Risotto literally means “little rice” and is a method of cooking rice using stock, cheese and other ingredients. Risotto, as I know it, is a method of cooking that apparently began in Milan in Lombardia, followed by Piedmont.

Rice arrived in Italy in the 1200s from Asia, from the north through Venice and from the south through Sicily. The first people to really use Rice as a staple food were the people from the southern area of Naples, though this didn’t last too long with pasta taking back over.  Rice began to be eaten more in the north of Italy, and even growing rice in the north became common, due to the amount of water available to grow the plants.

The story of the birth of the famous “Risotto alla Milanese”, one of my favourite risottos, is fantastic. In the 1500s Milan was full of builders, architects and painters. One of the painters of the day was nicknamed “Zafferano” or “Saffron” due to the amount of saffron he used in his painting. One day, the daughter of the master painter was getting married. Zafferano tried to do a joke at the wedding banquet by putting saffron all over the wedding rice dish. The wedding guests didn’t realize the joke and ate it anyway. It was so popular that ‘Risotto alla Milanese’ was born!

What is probably the true story? That rice and saffron together is actually an Arabic tradition. They coloured their rice to look like gold, which was a symbol of nobility. I like the first story better.

To appreciate the risotto as we understand it today was initially a cook in the 1800s who remains semi-anonymous, since we know him only by the initials: LOG. The first known chef to really classify the rice with a cooking method was Pellegrino Artusi, in the 1900s. The risotto became a specialty method of cooking, cooked in a casserole with soffrito, adding stock bit by bit.  Even the famous French chef Auguste Escoffier described risotto in Italian, naming each type by their origin, like “alla Milanese” (from Milan… or Piedmont, or Florentine).

Ingredients

There are three things that you absolutely must have to make a delicious risotto:

1. Home made stock
2. Quality ingredients e.g. a good Reggiano Parmigiano
3. The right type of rice

Types of rice

To do a great risotto the best rices are Arborio, Vialone nano and Carnaroli. All these rice varieties come from a Japonica Variety.

Arborio is an Italian short grain rice which comes from the north of Italy in the Po Valley. Arborio in my opinion is more suitable for Minestrone soups or Spanish paella.

Vialone nano is another Northern Italian variety, which is a good rice to use. The rice grains are fine and pearly. Of the more than 24 varieties of rice grown in Italy, Vialone Nano is chronologically the second oldest, and nowadays is grown all around Verona.

Carnaroli is my choice when making risotto. Carnoroli contains more starch than other rice varieties, retains liquid, holds its shape and is a medium grained rice with a firm texture. This is beautiful in a risotto cooked to al dente perfection… you can taste every grain of rice. It is known as the ‘king of rice’. These days, Carnoroli is native to the Novara and Vercelli regions of North Italy.

I use Acquarello rice, which you can buy from many delis like Accoutrement in Mosman or from http://www.lario.com.au/ . Lario talks about Acquarello Carnoroli Rice: “Aged while still unpolished for over a year in stainless steel silos, this process renders the starch, proteins and vitamins less soluble in water. The final result is a harder grain with a firmer texture. The ultimate risotto rice”.

Style of Cooking: “All’onda”

My method of cooking risotto is “all’onda”, the ‘wave style’ of cooking risotto. I don’t stir until halfway through, and when I serve it, it sits flat on the plate. This is quite different to the reputation that risotto has of being a dish that is time consuming and needs constant stirring.

How is that the risotto is not stirred? When the risotto is cooked by adding stock to cover the rice, if you start to stir oxygen travels to the bottom of the pan and the rice will start to stick and burn, if you don’t continue to stir.  However, in the “all’onda” style, the rice merely cooks within the stock, the liquid becomes creamy and the wave style refers to the movement of the rice. Stir halfway through, then roll those waves when you are adding your butter, your cheese and any other ingredients of flavour (e.g. herbs). The perfect risotto.

Some of my favourite Risotto flavours at the moment

• Risotto with Pumpkin and Rosemary
• Risotto with Prosecco and freshly shucked oysters
• Risotto with Beetroot and Gorgonzola (on the menu currently at Ormeggio at the Spit)
• Risotto alla Milanese with beef cheeks

Risotto with pumpkin and rosemary
Serves 5

100ml Oil, Extra Virgin
5 ea Shallots
500g Rice, Carnaroli Acquarello
200ml Wine, white
500g Pumpkin / Squash
50g Butter
100g Cheese, Reggiano
30g Garlic, peeled
3 litres Stock, vegetable (see below)

Roughly chop the pumpkin leaving the skin on and roast at 150 C for about 45 minutes or until the pumpkin is cooked, set aside. Sweat off the onion and garlic without colour, set aside. Remove the skin from the pumpkin and discard. Place the pumpkin flesh and cooked onion, garlic into a food processor and blend to a smooth puree. Set aside.

Put rice in a large based pot and toast with some olive oil being careful not to let it burn. When hot add the hot wine, do not stir the rice just shake the pot, allow the wine to absorb then add about 300ml of the stock at a time allowing it to absorb. Again don’t stir the rice just shake the pot. After cooking for about 8-10min add about a 1/3 of the pumpkin puree. Keep adding stock allowing it to absorb. Continue cooking for about another 8min and add the rest of the pumpkin and the chopped rosemary, and stir it through using a wooden. Cook for about another 2min, remove from the heat and add the butter mix it through taste and correct the seasoning.

Notes: This risotto is made “all’onda” (in the ‘wave style’), which is typical of northern Italy. It should take about 18 minutes to make from the time you start adding the liquid.

Recipe for Vegetable Stock:

Ingredients for 1 batches/3 litres

200g Carrots
2 bunch Celery, branch
4 Onions
4 Tomatoes, Roma
3 Leeks, white
1 Fennel
10 litres Water

Wash all the vegetable and cut them in pieces. Add 10 litres of water. Bring up to boiling and simmer for 30 minutes.

Editor’s note: Many thanks to Alessandro Pavoni as guest writer of this article. Alessandro Pavoni is Chef / Owner at Ormeggio restaurant in Sydney which this week was awarded it’s first hat in the (Sydney Morning Herald) SMH Good Food Guide. Congratulations, Alessandro and team.

Ormeggio
d’Albora Marina The Spit
Mosman NSW 2088 Australia
+61 2 9969 4088

And, you can follow Alessandro on twitter too.