Risotto is the perfect dish for entertaining, from dinner parties to date nights! It’s infinitely adaptable, easy to make, and it’s creamy nature makes it indulgent. Most people are scared off by the ’20 minutes’ of stirring, but you don’t need to stir constantly to have a creamy risotto. Once you’ve made it a few times, you’ll find it second nature to prepare other courses while giving your risotto a stir every 5 minutes or so. It makes a great date night recipe because it seems so gourmet, but it’s actually really easy to pull off especially when both of you are in the kitchen, and can take turns stirring!
A date night evening goes something like this:
- Tyler makes an antipasto plate while I start the risotto.
- We nibble antipasto while taking turns stirring the risotto, and start the second course or dessert.
- Prepare the tomato topping for the risotto, then grill some chicken and veggies for a second course, or churn some Coconut Lime Ice Cream to go with seasonal berries.
- Set the table, (light candles if it’s not too hot outside), and turn on our favorite acoustic guitar station on Pandora that’s centered around the music of Tommy Emmanuel.
- Plate the risotto like the above picture so that it feels like a real dining experience, and enjoy!
To mince the shallot for the risotto, start by cutting off both ends and peeling it. Next make 2 cuts from the top almost to the bottom, but not quite cutting through.
Then, you make cuts across the top of the shallot, again not cutting all the way through, you want to leave the core end of the shallot intact. And finally, thinly slice crosswise into a ‘mince’. If you have a food chopper, feel free to go that route instead, it’s definitely faster especially when you’re chopping bigger quantities!
For risotto, you always start by sautéing the shallot. When it’s tender, you add the rice and sauté briefly until the rice turns slightly translucent, (above left hand photo). Then you add a small amount of liquid, (about 1/2 cup at a time, above right hand photo) and stir every few minutes until it absorbs.
When the rice has absorbed it’s liquid, (above left hand photo) add the next 1/2 cup water, and continue the stirring process. You’ll know when the risotto is done when it doubles in size and becomes tender. The best way to tell is to bite into it, (just like pasta) risotto is also cooked al’ dente meaning ‘to the bite’. When you bite into a grain of rice it will be tender, but with just a speck of white remaining in the center of the grain.
For the tomato topping, stack your clean basil leaves together, roll them up, and thinly slice them crosswise to create thin ribbons called a ‘chiffonade’.
How gorgeous are these tomatoes from our local Farmer’s Market? I’m so excited to have great quality local tomatoes again!
My tomatoes were the size of cherry tomatoes, and I quartered them. If your tomatoes are a bit larger, cut them up to be bite sized. Toss the tomatoes together with the sliced basil. Set the tomato basil topping aside until the risotto is done.
Risotto Tips 101:
- Stir vigorously, you don’t have to stir constantly, but every few minutes give it a vigorous stir for 30-45 seconds and you will have a creamy texture.
- Don’t add you liquid all at once. Risotto gets it’s creamy texture by adding the liquid little by little, and waiting for it to absorb before adding a bit more.
- Never use anything but good quality stocks, (chicken or vegetable usually) or water. I read about using water in place of stock from Marcella Hazan, and it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to my risotto making! I love using chicken stock for heavier risotto dishes, but water is perfect, (doesn’t compete) with delicate flavors like creme fraiche and vegetables.
- Use a good quality aborio rice like Lundberg Farms aborio rice. The type of rice is important too because you can’t make risotto from any other kind of rice, (aborio is a short grain rice that creates it’s own creamy sauce during cooking).
Risotto is usually served al’onde which means ‘on the wave’ in Italian. This means you don’t want it to be stiff, when it’s served, it should spread out a bit on the plate, but still hold some shape. 5 from 1 review
