Spring is the perfect season to rediscover the ingredients to which we did not have access during the winter. Risotto, a perfect first course to stimulate imagination in the kitchen, is ideal for enhancing the delicate flavors of spring ingredients such as carrots, friar's beard, borage, nettles, broad beans, flowers, asparagus and peas.
We then collected 20 perfect recipes to celebrate spring, without taking refuge in the usual (albeit delicious) risotto with asparagus. First of all it is good to go over the basic rules to prepare a good risotto:
1- Choose the rice: the creaminess of the risotto is based on starch, therefore you need a rice that contains it and releases the right amount. Among the most suitable varieties of rice are Arborio, Baldo, Carnaroli, Maratelli, Rosa Marchetti and Vialone nano.
2 – Choose the pot: the right saucepan for a good risotto should be made of copper, but also of steel or aluminum, as long as they spread the heat evenly. The pan must be large enough, with medium high walls, so that rice and broth can form a layer of three to four fingers.
3 – Ceiling and toasting: Among the rules that explain how to cook risotto, the one concerning the sauté is among the most debated. Those who roast dry rice, in fact, add it eventually only later. Those who, however, start from the sauté must finely chop the onion, shallot or leek to obtain uniform cooking and consistency. If you want to use the sauté right from the start, let it dry gently, adding broth little by little to cook the onion: it is important to make sure that the base is dry when you roast the rice. Toasting, on the other hand, is the step that makes the difference between risotto and boiled rice, since it allows you to "seal" the bean and let it release the right amount of starch. You can toast rice without fat, or other seasonings or use oil or butter: the important thing is to carefully heat the beans before blending and cooking.
4 – The broth: to obtain a perfect risotto, the rice must be cooked by gradually adding liquid as it evaporates or is absorbed. This is because it is essential that during cooking the beans are always covered with broth, in order to free the starches and not to break. There are two errors to avoid: use a poor broth or even worse the water (the taste of rice will be affected) or add cold broth, continuously blocking cooking. You have to be very patient and mix the risotto often, taking care to bring back all the beans that stick to the sides of the pot. The regulation of the flame is also important: the risotto will have to boil briskly, but not burn.
5- stir: for creaming the risotto you should use very cold butter, to glue the fat part and not the liquid part. It is kept away from the heat, together with a generous dose of Parmesan cheese. Then you have to cover the pan and let the dish rest for a couple of minutes, the right time for all the typical creaminess of the risotto to be released.
And now that we have reviewed the basics for preparing a good risotto, let yourself be inspired by lime risotto, char and herring eggs, carrot risotto, turmeric rice with friar's beard and lemon zest, nettle and provolone risotto, Futuristic risotto with alchechingio, vegetable risotto with rabbit and olives, risotto with carnations, rice and barley with asparagus, crispy rice with morels and scallops, spring risotto, black rice, burrata and friggitelli, lettuce risotto, borage risotto with chicken balls, risotto with frogs, yellow mango risotto with raspadura, lemon risotto with bresaola and arugula, risotto with broad beans and lettuce pesto, risotto with Prosecco, borage and goat cheese, parmesan in risotto and risotto with pistachios and clams.
Here are 20 recipes for preparing seasonal risotto
