Name: Basic Risotto
Yield: Serves 4 as a main course or 6 as a pasta course in a larger meal
Cuisine: Italy
Ingredients: Freshly ground black pepper; Approximately 6 cups lightly salted mild chicken or vegetarian stock; Small handful of fresh peas, or 12 snow peas, sliced in half (optional); ⅔ cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus extra for serving; 3 to 4 tiny young zucchini, cut into 1-inch chunks (optional); ¼ cup olive oil; 1 medium yellow onion, minced; 2 cups carnaroli, vialone nano, or arborio superfino rice (or substitute Valencia or CalRiso rice)

Preparation info

Serves
4
as a main course

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Seductions of Rice

By Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid

Published 1998

About

Risotto is a practical light-handed way of eating good rice flavored with simple tastes. This recipe suggests using springtime vegetables, young zucchini and green peas, but you can omit both and just make the dish without them. Alternatively, in fall and winter, instead of using fresh vegetables, you can use two ounces dried shiitake or porcini mushrooms, soaked for thirty minutes in one cup of ho