Nettle Risotto Recipe - A Recipe for Nettle Risotto | Hank Shaw (2024)

FAQs

What makes a risotto good? ›

A hint of wine is often added after the rice to deglaze the pan, but the real star of risotto is the broth. While constantly stirring the rice, warm broth is added in, one ladle-full at a time. Over time, the rice absorbs the broth, releases its starches, softens, and creates that signature velvety texture.

Risotto is a self-contained meal. One within which all the constituent ingredients should be chopped and mixed so that you get a little of everything in each moist mouthful. That does not happen if you serve a piece of protein on a bed of risotto.

Use Salted Water Instead of Broth in Risotto. That's right — instead of using broth or stock, you can season a pot of water to make your risotto. It's an ingenious tip on many levels. First and foremost, you don't have to run to the store to buy stock, which saves you time and money.

It is important to be careful when handling the nettle plant because touching it can cause an allergic rash. Stinging nettle should never be applied to an open wound. Because nettle can alter the menstrual cycle and may contribute to miscarriage, pregnant women should not use nettle.

Burning nettle, also known as small nettle or annual nettle, generally reaches heights of 5 to 24 inches (13-61 cm). It is native to Europe. Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica), native to North America, is a much taller plant that can grow as tall as 3 to 10 feet (1-3 m.) but can reach heights of 20 feet (6 m.)

Roots, seeds, stems and young, tender leaves are all edible. Native Indigenous people use stinging nettle for medicine, ceremony and as a food source. Mature fibrous stems have been used to make rope, cloth and fishing net.

We par cook it. We make the recipe without finishing it with cream or butter or cheese. We pour the hot risotto onto a sheet tray to cool quickly and then store it in a container. Once we are ready to serve, we reheat the risotto with a little chicken stock, and finish with cream, butter, and some parmesan cheese.

Risotto alla Milanese is a classic dish from the Lombardy region of northern Italy. It's said to have come about in the mid-1800s, when a team of glassmakers took some of the saffron they were using to color the stained glass windows in Milan's Duomo cathedral and added it to the risotto being served at dinner.

You can use lobster stock for a lobster risotto or mushroom stock for a mushroom risotto, but don't blindly use chicken stock or vegetable stock for every risotto you make. The rice has its own subtle flavor, which shouldn't be masked by a concentrated stock.

In Italy, when it is not used as a complete meal, risotto is considered a main dish, and is usually served with small portions of meat or light vegetable side dishes. For example, it is very common to pair risotto with a couple of lemon escalopes, or with bresaola and arugula.

Do Italians eat risotto with fork or spoon? ›

Most Italians eat risotto with a fork, but there are areas where you are given a spoon by default to eat it: it happens in Campania, for example, but not only there. It partly depends on convenience and habits.

When cooking risotto on a stovetop, you're required to periodically stir it to ensure it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot. Some people, however, stir it too frequently. This adds air into the risotto, cooling it down and making it gluey.

Great risotto cannot be made with long-grain rice, such as Basmati or Jasmine rice. Sometimes, other grains can be used to make risotto-style dishes, such as barley, farro, buckwheat, and quinoa.

If you are able to get white wine vinegar then you can add a tablespoon of this to the rice and let it boil away before adding any stock and this will often give some of the flavour of wine, whilst reducing the alcohol content.