Name: Risi e Bisi (Rice and Peas)
Yield: 6–8 people
Cuisine: Venetian
Ingredients: salt and pepper; 500 g carnaroli rice (for strict authenticity, but arborio will do); 60 g butter; 1.5 litres Chicken or Vegetable Broth; 100 g pancetta, cut into small lardons; 60 g Parmesan, freshly grated; 1 onion, peeled and very finely diced; 1 handful parsley, chopped; 1.5 kg peas in pod

Preparation info

6–8
people

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Alastair Little's Italian Kitchen

By Alastair Little

Published 1996

About

The Venetian dialect for rice and peas. Virtually every cuisine has a rice and peas dish: jambalaya in New Orleans, gohan in Japan, and Chinese fried rice with peas. This is not a risotto, but a pea and ham soup thickened to solidity by the rice. To be candid, the end result is not that different.

Ingredients

1.5 kg peas in pod
500 g carnaroli rice (for strict authenticity, but arborio will do)
1.5

Method

Pod the peas. Do not discard the pods, but instead string and chop them into small pieces, then boil for 20 minutes in the broth. Sieve, and discard the pods, but admire the strong pea flavour of the liquid.

Take a heavy casserole or pan and melt the butter over a medium heat. Add the onion and pancetta and sweat for 5 minutes. Add the peas and sweat for a further 5 minutes. Add all the