The name of the dish "risotto" literally translates from Italian as "little rice" and comes from the northern regions of Italy. But do not think that risotto has taken its place in the country's cuisine for many centuries, since its first mention dates back only to the beginning of the 19th century. At present, this dish has expanded the geography of Italy and has been "carried over" to the cuisine of Russians as well.
What is risotto and the rules for its preparation
It is believed that round rice varieties that are rich in starch are suitable for preparing this dish. In Italy, these are the following popular varieties - "Arborio", "Baldo", "Padano", "Roma" and others. Rice is usually not boiled, but pre-fried in olive oil, but, depending on the Italian region of preparation, it is replaced with butter or chicken fat. Then boiling broth is slowly poured into the cereal prepared in this way (about 3-4 glasses per 1 glass of rice). Here again, there are many options: it can be cooked with vegetables, meat, fish or poultry.
Then the cereals are stewed and stirred constantly until the broth is completely evaporated. And only at the very end and in the almost completely finished cereal, any desired filler is laid. The latter also offers a lot of room for the culinary imagination - meat, seafood, vegetables, mushrooms and even dried fruits.
In Italy, it is also customary to add risotto with a characteristic creamy color, when butter, whipped with a whisk, is poured into abundant rice on starch, and hard grated cheese is added to it. It can be almost any variety, but again parmesan or pecorino are considered traditional.
The result is a very aromatic and satisfying dish, and there is no exact recipe, since the only condition for the correct risotto is its "fluidity" (uniformity of consistency), as well as the above-described creaminess.
Gourmet Wine and Seafood Risotto Recipe
For 3-4 servings of this dish, you will need the following ingredients: 700 milliliters of hot vegetable broth, 300-350 grams of rice, 200-250 milliliters of dry white wine, a half-kilogram mixture of seafood, 100 grams of Parmesan, one onion, a couple of cloves of garlic, 50 milliliters of olive oil and 30-40 grams of butter.
In a deep frying pan, melt both types of oil and fry the onion and garlic in it until half cooked, then pour raw rice into the container and cook it for another 2-3 minutes so that the cereal will absorb the oil. Then wine is added to the pan, in which the rice is fried until the liquid is completely boiled out (about 10 minutes). After that, rice should be cooked over low heat for 20 minutes, gradually adding vegetable broth to it.
Once the liquid has evaporated, the rice is almost ready. At this stage, you need to add seafood to it, a little more butter, salt, pepper and other desired spices. After 5 minutes, the risotto is ready. It remains only to sprinkle it with herbs, parmesan and serve!
