Name: Risotto with Salami and Red Beans (Panissa)
Yield: Serves 4 to 6
Cuisine: Italy
Ingredients: 1 cup red wine, preferably Barbera or another Northern Italian red; 1 medium tomato, peeled and minced; 1 stalk celery, finely diced (optional); 1 small carrot, finely diced (optional); ½ cup minced yellow onion; ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil, preferably Ligurian; 2 cups carnaroli, vialone nano, or arborio superfino rice (or substitute Valencia or CalRiso); Approximately 6 cups stock—preferably 5 cups lightly salted homemade beef stock mixed with a cup of bean cooking liquid (see Note); 1 cup cooked cranberry beans or small red beans (see Note); ½ pound mild Italian salami, cut into ¼-inch cubes (or use half salami and half culatello)

Preparation info

Serves
4 to 6

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Seductions of Rice

By Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid

Published 1998

About

This hearty winter dish is a simplified adaptation of the sophisticated restaurant version we ate at Osteria Cascine dei Fiori, in the wet green countryside just east of Vercelli, in the heart of Italy’s rice country. Originally panissa was a practical country dish of rice, beans, and pork, satisfying and filling on a cold damp day.

This version has small pieces of salty salami and soft rich small red beans in the tender flavorful rice. The beans are cooked ahead; the bean co