Quote:
Originally Posted by badgoodDeb
Care to share a recipe? I kinda thought (heathen that I am) that "risotto" was anything mixed in with rice. Y'all seem to think otherwise (from some other thread). Enlighten me on a proper risotto then! But it's mostly the mushroom that caught my attention this time.....
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The recipe is a Delia Smith one: it's available
on-line. From experience it is worth getting good mushrooms (I once found some cheap dried porcini and tried them -- won't do that again!). Again, it's also worthwhile having good parmesan -- never use that pre-grated "stuff" (I'm tempted to use another word there....), and I tend to use about twice the quoted amount when mixing into the risotto.
Generally, people today use the term to mean something mixed with and cooked in with rice (as you say), or simply something that is served mixed in with rice (I'm sure someone would try and call paella a risotto, but I wouldn't). I tend to think of a
real risotto as something that takes time, where small amounts of specific stock are slowly mixed in with the risotto rice a little at a time to slowly build up that wonderful sticky, creamy, tasty result, and usually has some other ingredients added at the end or towards the end. This tends to have a different result to the rice, and also generally uses one of two specific risotto rice varieties.
On the non-risotto risotto (vegetarian varieties) Delia also has a very nice Spring Risotto that is a favourite (cauliflower, broccoli, leeks, spinach), but I can't find that on-line.
The Wikipedia
entry seems pretty good. Note I do not consider myself an expert -- perhaps more experienced cooks and/or Italians can comment.