Cooking Risotto (carnaroli)

EireEV

Hi,

I made a Risotto last night for the 1st time but it didn't turn out exactly how I had planned.

I was cooking the Risotto in the oven with the vegetable stock but turns out I used far too much Risooto for the dish I had it in as when it started to soak up the stock and expand it was practically fallen over the edge of the dish !

I resorted to tranferring some of the Risotto to a pan and adding a little stock at a time and this seemed to work much better.

Question now is I have lot of this risotto leftover in the dish - is there anyway to revive this for tonights dinner?

Thanks in advance.

EireEV

noby

Is it cooked? You could re-heat it, perhaps in a little more stock.
I often eat it cold the next day.

EireEV

Yeah it's cooked - eating it cold could be nice but think I need to cook it a little longer.

Maybe just poor over a little more stock and let it simmer?

sc317

Why not some fried risotto balls or cakes? You have the ready made mix with the cold risotto, just add some breadcrumbs if you wish and fry them.

luckat

Risotto in the oven? I always cook it on the gas; didn't know you could cook risotto in the oven! How do you get your arm in there for all that stirring?

The Sweeper

This will probably be too late for today's dinner, but yes, you do need to do risotto in a pan really so you can stir it and watch how much liquid it is absorbing and add liquid as required, while stirring.

You could rejuvenate the dish for tonights dinner - put a few spoonsfuls back in the pan with some water and start stirring. Once it's heated through I'd look at adding some of the finishing ingredients again - a tiny splash of wine or sherry, some fresh herbs, pepper, salt, whatever it is.

kenco

While it can be done in the oven I always think it is better on the pan.

It does however take a fair bit of watching over though. I start it off with sweating some onion and a bit of garlic in olive oil, then adding the rice, let that 'fry' for a while (until it turns slightly transluscent). Then add the stock one ladle to start with. Let it virtually evaporate and add more, repeat for around 20mins. Season from time to time and keep stirring for the whole period, i.e. from when the rice hits the pan to when you have the last stock evaporate.

When you get it right you will now and it will be superb

Enjoy

luckat

I make a seafood risotto - hell on the cholesterol, but nice.

Get one of those mixes of frozen seafood that are mostly shellfood, and take out half, stick 'em in a bowl and put the rest back in the freezer.

Gently fry a chopped onion in a good dose of olive oil; after a while throw in your rice and stir it in. Garlic, of course. And a few herbs - a little thyme and some fresh oregano is nice.

Chop some courgettes in chunks, and three or four asparagus spears in rings and add them.

Keep gently stirring every now and again so the rice doesn't catch.

Heat some stock, and when it's hot, add it a ladle at a time - I'm sorry I'm not too definite on amounts; about a cup of rice, I think, for this amount, and then you just use as much stock as the rice will absorb. But the stock must be hot.

Put the seafood mix in a pot with a little butter, cover and cook fairly fast to thaw it and heat it right up. When it gives off a fair amount of liquid, pour this into the risotto, and keep doing so as it emits more.

When the rice is cooked and the liquid is absorbed to taste (some people like risotto dry, some prefer it more soupy), take it off the heat and stir in the cooked seafood mix, and serve.

Ponster

Once the rice becomes slightly transluscent I throw in a glass of white wine until it evaporates and stir in some butter in the end as the rices cools a little

NextSteps

I find steaming to be the best way to reheat risotto.

babaduck

My fule-proof recipe is

2oz risotto rice per person (starter) or 3oz for mains
1 white onion, finely chopped
2 sticks celery, finely chopped
A decent slug of olive oil
1 crushed clove of garlic
1 large glass white wine (drink the rest while cooking the dish)
Sea salt, freshly ground pepper
500-750ml hot stock (chicken or veg, not beef)
1 finely sliced raw chicken breast per person
1 handful frozen petit pois per person
1/2 a finely chopped courgette per person
Handful chopped flat parsley & chives
large handful freshly grated parmesan

In a large saucepan, heat the oil gently and then add the onion & celery - cook until translucent and then add the garlic.

Throw in the rice & fry it until it starts to sound like Rice Krispies. Throw in the glass of wine & start stirring gently - the liquid will turn white-ish and creamy as the starch starts to release from the rice. As the wine bubbles away, start adding the stock a ladleful at a time. After Ladle No. 2, add the chicken (this will poach in the liquid) and keep stirring. Taste the rice from Ladle No. 3 to make sure it's moving from raw to cooked - as you reach that point, add the peas & courgettes & cook for 2 mins. Turn off the heat, taste for seasoning, add some black pepper and chuck in the Parmesan & herbs. Taste again & add salt if required.

Serve with whatever's left of the bottle of wine

luckat

Oh, yes, forgot the white wine. Mmmm.