Risotto alla Milanese Around the World

Yesterday at the Italian Culinary Academy, I helped kick-off the Virtual Group of Italian Chef's 2009 celebration of Italian Cuisine by inviting some of my friends to the school to cook authentic risotto milanese. Mark Ladner, Ann Burrell and Giovanni Grasso used the same ingredients, but each created their own interpretation of a traditional risotto.

Risotto alla Milanese is a dish born in the Po Valley, in that part of Italy that’s found to the North of the imaginary line drawn from La Spezia to Rimini. Risotto is the symbol the great Italian city, Milan, and consists of the perfect combination of rice, wine, cheese, butter, saffron and broth.

If you are a chef or restaurateur and want to participate in this global celebration of Italian cuisine, visit the GVCI website.

If you'd like to make a traditional risotto at home, here's the timeless recipe:

Risotto alla Milanese

INGREDIENTS
• 300 gm rice Vialone or Carnaroli (this is not a brand but a kind of rice)
• 100 gm butter (use only the best quality, not salted and make sure is cold from the fridge not half melted and greasy)
• 150 ml dry white wine (at room temperature not cold!!)
• 1 lt Broth (made out of beef or beef and chicken meat or veal meat, keep it light in color but full on flavor stay back with the salt)
• 1 Tea spoon of saffron treads
• 50 grams bone marrow (optional)
• 50gm white onion chopped very fine
• 50gm grated Grana Padano o Parmigiano Reggiano (please stop calling everything “parmesan”)
(You can skip bone marrow. Alternatively pan roast 20 pieces of 1cm thick slices of it and place them on top of your risotto just before serving it)

PROCEDURE
• We will use a smart procedure for the onion, which works very well when you are producing for a busy restaurant.
• Slowly panfry at very low heat the chopped onion until translucent, making sure the onion does not gets dark, and keep it a side
• Add 50gm of the butter in the saucepan , make sure in not to hot or your butter will burn, add the rice and toast it at medium heat and always keep mixing with the wooden spoon
• When the rice is well toasted, add the onion previously cooked, stir well and add the wine, simmer and keep mixing until the wine has evaporated.
• Now start the cooking by adding ladle by ladle the broth to about 1cm over level of rice level and keep mixing. Add the saffron threads.
• Continue this exercise until the rice is al dente and remove the saucepan form the heat. You can add the bone marrow during this step, if you decided to use it. Allow it to melt.
• The rice has by now a runny consistence (all`onda) and ready for the “mantecatura”. This operation will give the risotto a creamy but still light consistence, so add the remaining butter and the freshly grated cheese and stir well until the butter is all melted and the cheese is incorporated in to the risotto, if your broth is perfect in flavor you do not need to adjust with the salt, so serve the rice in a hot flat plate. In Italy we eat risotto with the fork but in some area of the world you may want to add a spoon on the table!

Bon Appetito,

Cesare