The General Wine Company Petersfield
Wine Match: Algareiro Albarino
The moment you take a bite of this Spanish feeling, rich-tasting, aromatic risotto you'll forget how healthy and vegetarian it is. The secret to its incredibly appealing texture is the liquid-absorbing rice starch. A must try!
Serves 4
Ingredients
For the Risotto
425g Premium Carnaroli Risotto rice
1 1/2 pints of fresh, home-made vegetable stock (you will probably not need this much but it is always best to have too much, than too little)
Butter
4 large shallots
Celery Hearts and leaves
Vermouth
White wine
1 pint of young (preferably organic) fresh carrot juice
Truffle Infused Olive Oil
4 Large Garlic Cloves
Saffron
Large bunch of Parsley
300 g Freshly grated Parmesan Cheese
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
For the stock
3 carrots
1 small swede
1 red onion
1 white onion
3 turnips
1 broccoli crown
Celery (The outside sticks)
handful of spinach leaves
sprinkle of fennel
sprinkle of parsley
lemon thyme
Butternut squash cubes
2 x bay leaves
5 cloves garlic
2 sprigs of saffron
splash of vermouth
1 tbl honey
1x bouquet garnet
1 handful of brussel sprouts
2 Vegetarian herb and garlic stock cubes
Pinch of salt and pepper to season
Method
1. Combine all the ingredients for the stock into a large saucepan and simmer for an hour. The first stage of the risotto will take approx. 30 mins before you need this stock, so allow enough time for the stock. I have tailored the stock ingredients above to bring out the best flavours for this particular risotto.
2. Gently heat half the butter and a splash of the truffle infused olive oil in a medium nonstick saucepan over light heat.
3. Finely chop the shallots, garlic and celery hearts and leaves.
4. Add these to the saucepan, turn heat to medium and sauté until tender. You may need 10 mins or even more to soften the shallots and celery. Make sure they are soft before you move on to the next step!
5. Add the rice, stirring to coat. Leave this to absorb the wonderful flavours going on in the sauce pan for about 4-5 minutes.
6. Add a large splash of vermouth and a small amount of the Abarino. You should here the fantastic sizzling of the liquid when you add it! Cook this for approx 2 minutes, stirring occasionally or until it has evaporated by half.
7. Warm the carrot juice to a moderate temperature (do not boil it) in a separate saucepan.
8. Add the warmed carrot juice to the risotto, a ladleful at a time, to the rice and cook, stirring. Wait until each addition of liquid has been absorbed before adding the next.
9. Once the carrot juice has been absorbed, add a few strands of the saffron to the risotto.
10. Heat the vegetable stock in a separate saucepan.
11. Add a pinch of salt at this stage. This will help the rice achieve an al dente result.
12. Next, careful attention is needed. Add the vegetable stock, a ladleful at a time, to the rice and cook, stirring. Wait until each addition of liquid has been absorbed before adding the next. In this stage add only enough vegetable stock until the rice becomes al dente i.e not too soft but retaining a slight firmness. You may only need around 100-200 ml of stock to get the rice to this stage. These measurements can vary so judge the rice and amount of stock needed after every ladle or so, at this step.
13. Finely chop the parsley
14. Once the rice reaches the al dente stage, stir in the remainder of the butter to give the risotto a glossy shine!
15. Season with pepper. Taste to see if the risotto needs seasoning with anymore salt and season accordingly.
16. Add the parsley and some parmesan cheese. This risotto needs a fair amount of parmesan cheese but again add the parmesan according to preference. Recommended amount is around 300g
17. Serve with Algareiro Albarino and enjoy!
Tips: If you don’t want to splash out on saffron, this risotto is equally delicious without it. If you are making your own stock, try adding a handful of brussel sprouts to the vegetable stock for a subtle, secret ingredient that improves the finished risotto.