Risotto, The Classic Italian Side Dish with a Twist. How to Make the Best Creamy Risotto in 2023.

Risotto. The Classic Italian Side Dish with a Twist.

Tonight, we’re making a classic Italian dish… Risotto.  Rice was introduced to Italy centuries ago, but Milan Italy in the northern part of the country was credited for developing risotto as a major Italian dish.

Risotto is much more labor intensive to make than regular rice, but it is well worth the effort. So tonight, we’re going to show you how to make a traditional risotto, and then we’ll show you how to make risotto with a twist.  

Risotto is the classic Italian dish made with arborio rice, extra virgin olive oil, butter, onions, dry vermouth, chicken stock, and Parmesan cheese. Tonight we’re making our risotto with a twist by adding mushrooms, Havarti cheese, and aged white cheddar cheese which gives the risotto extra flavor and makes it smooth and creamy. 

Our Mise En Place for the risotto is: (Serving for Two)

Traditional Risotto
¾ Cup of Arborio Rice
2 Tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
4 oz of Unsalted Butter
2 Shallots Chopped or 1 Yellow Onion Chopped
2 Cloves of Garlic Chopped (or one large cube of garlic puree)
1 Cup of Extra Dry Vermouth
4 Cups of Chicken Stock
2 oz Grated Parmesan Reggiano Cheese
1 oz of Lemon Juice
Salt, Pepper, and Italian Seasoning

Optional (With a Twist) Items
4 oz Chopped Mushrooms
2 oz Grated Aged White Cheddar Cheese
2 oz Grated Creamy Havarti Cheese

Garnish
Chopped Dried Parsley
Chopped Chives and/or Scallions

We want to use a large stainless-steel pan. Since we will be browning the onions, mushrooms, and arborio rice first, the large surface the pan is important.  Add a few tablespoons of the olive oil and a few pieces of butter to the pan and turn the heat to medium.  Let the butter melt and stir the butter and olive oil in the pan.

Our first step is to sauté the rice, onions, and mushrooms. We want them to be browned before we start to add in our liquids.  Add in the arborio rice and ensure that each of the grains are coated with the butter and olive oil. Then add in the onions and the mushrooms, ensure that they are coated with the butter and olive oil too, and saute them together for about eight to 10 minutes on medium heat.    

After the rice, onions and mushrooms have browned, add in the garlic and saute for only a minute. Garlic burns easily, so we only want to cook it for a short time before we add in our liquids.

Now we’ll add in the cup of dry vermouth. Stir constantly until all of the vermouth is absorbed into the rice.  If you don’t have vermouth, you can use a dry white wine, both add a nice flavor to risotto.

Next, we’ll begin to add in the chicken stock half a cup at a time.   The one thing you will need a lot of to make the perfect risotto is patience.  With traditional rice, you add in your liquid, cover the pot and leave it alone for 20 minutes.  But with risotto, you add in the chicken broth a little at a time and stir stir stir !  We will repeat this process until all four cups of the chicken stock is used.  It takes about 20 minutes from the time that you add in the vermouth and chicken stock for the rice to be ready for the rest of the ingredients. Remember now! Keep stirring!

Add in the juice of a fresh squeezed lemon. ½ of the lemon should be fine, but if you love the zing of lemon flavor, you can add the juice of the whole lemon.

When the rice is done cooking, turn off the heat and add in a few pieces of cold butter.

Traditional risotto calls for grated Parmesan cheese, which we are adding here. Since our risotto is made with a twist, we’ll add in the grated Havarti and white cheddar cheese. Havarti is very creamy when its heated. And the white cheddar cheese is intense with delicious flavor.  Stir the cheese into the risotto and you’re ready to serve.

And now its time to plate our dish.   I want to thank our friends at International Tableware Incorporated in Toledo Ohio for providing this wonderful risotto bowl. If you’re serving risotto to your guests at home, this is the kind of bowl that’s made specifically for serving risotto. It has a deep well to keep your risotto hot and a nice big rim that can be used for garnish and decoration.

And there it is!  Risotto with a twist! The classic Italian dish made with arborio rice, extra virgin olive oil, butter, onions, mushrooms, dry vermouth, chicken stock, Parmesan, Havarti and cheddar cheese. This risotto was bursting with flavor, with a texture that was smooth and creamy.

It was delicious!

Until next time,
Bon Appetit!
Ciao,
Mark

How to Make Garlic Puree