I had some risotto on the Titignano Trip at the end of Temple Rome’s orientation week. That day was planned by Temple Rome as an introduction to Italian cuisine.
It was delicious. I remembered that I used to have a pressure cooker recipe for Risotto, but it never tasted like this. But alas, I certainly didn’t pack any of my pressure cookers for my study abroad experience.
The kitchen in our rental apartment was sparsely equipped. The pots were mainly Teflon coated, which I hate and we had no oven. So I started thinking about purchasing an Italian pressure cooker for my collection, something worth taking home with me. I researched a little and came across Lagostina.
These are a spring steel lid type in lovely stainless steel. I found a couple of different sizes in the kitchenware store a few blocks away. I chose a smaller model, thinking of having to haul it back across the Atlantic and the fact that I don’t have a smaller model at home. It would round out my collection nicely to four pressure cookers.
I bought it and, on the way back, I stopped at the Mom and Pop store.
Well, we call it the mom and pop store. The sign says Alimentaria and it’s just a small grocery store that sells fresh bread, meats, canned goods and all kinds of groceries piled to the ceiling. It’s run by an older couple, hence the nickname of Mom and Pop store. They speak very little English and our Italian isn’t the best either, but we’ve been managing quite well to get what we need.
I asked for Rice. Arborio Rice. The woman didn’t understand what I was talking about. I stopped and started scanning the shelves. I knew I had seen it previously. There it was- Riso (pronounced-reeso) Now I knew what they called rice. I also got a bottle of white wine, some broth and headed back home to try out the new purchase.
It was delicious. I scanned the internet for several more recipe over the next couple of months and now that we are coming to the end of our time in Rome, I believe I finally have the proportions for the way I like it.
I put this together with proportions rather than actual measurements. This way you can adjust it for the amount you need. We didn’t have a measuring cup in the Rome apartment so I used the spouted cup from the little plastic juicer. I think it held about a cup and a half and it was a good size for the boullion cubes, which were much larger than in the US and obviously were made for a metric unit larger than 1 cup.
So by “Part” I mean: pick a measurement: a cup, a mug, a bowl. Just use the same unit for all of the ingredients. Half to ¾ cup of rice usually triples to about one serving for normal rice and the Arborio is about the same.
Barb’s Roman Risotto
1 part Arborio rice
1 chopped medium onion per part of rice (optional)
2 cloves garlic per 1 onion (they can be sauted pressed or whole)
2.5 parts broth (in Italy the flavor is “classic, but we also used chicken,
mushroom and vegetable and/or mixtures of each with good results)
1 part dry white wine
a few tablespoons of olive oil to sauté the onions.
Saute the garlic and onions in the olive oil in the bottom of the pressure cooker until they are translucent.
Add the rice and sauté the rice for until the grains start to turn whiter. You’ll see. They will also start to smell a little toasty.
Add the wine. Stir it around in the rice and let it start to boil off a little. Stir another minute or so and then add the broth and close the lid.
Pressure cook for 9 minutes.
Release the pressure and open the lid. You should have a creamy broth on top of the rice. Stir it up a little and serve.
Risotto is great served with fresh grated parmesan or romano cheese.
