Risotto-Roni

This week, we made risotto, or as Brooke called it ‘boujee rice-a-roni.’ This is how we made it, and here are the ingredients you’ll need:

Ingredients

• 1/2 medium onion, very finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, smashed
• 4 Tbs. unsalted butter
• 1 cup arborio rice (this is a specific kind of rice, do not substitute)
• 1/4 cup dry white wine (you may leave this out if you don’t like the taste)
• 1 quart hot low-salt canned (or boxed liquid) chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 small package of saffron threads (equivalent to a quarter teaspoon).
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup finely grated parmesan, preferably Parmigiano-Reggiano
• 1-2 handfuls of baby spinach
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Materials

• saucepan
• liquid measuring cup
• ladle or small measuring cup
• large spoon
• measuring cups and spoons
• sharp knife

And here’s how it’s done!

1. Warm the broth in the microwave until it is HOT but NOT boiling! We found this took a while, as the volume of liquid was pretty thick and it takes a lot of heat to dissipate throughout the broth.
   

   Microwaved chicken broth

2. While this was happening, Brooke greased the saucepan with butter and added the onions, garlic, and saffron. We sauteed until the onions were translucent. Already the dish was smelling incredible, and we hadn’t added the key ingredient – the rice – yet!
   

   Looks great already

    

3. Now we added the rice! We used arborio rice and gently coated it with butter
4. Next we added everyone’s favorite ingredient, the wine, to the mixture and stirred until the wine was almost nearly evaporated.
   

   Adding the broth to the rice

5. Time to get the risotto really rolling! We began adding the broth to the pot in 1/4 cup increments. Per the instructions we only added more broth once the previous cup had been nearly absorbed.
6. Once all the broth was used up and had been absorbed by the rice, we removed the rice from the burner and marveled at how it came out! It looked (and smelled) amazing! The rice flowed smoothly like lava. We then threw in the spinach we had prepared per the package’s microwave instructions
   

   Creamy, delicious, and ready to eat!

    

7. Lastly , we added cheese, salt, and pepper to taste. We used 1/2 cup of cheese because cheese is delicious and makes everything taste better.

And that’s it! We’re done!

Packed and ready to take home

Closeup of the sauce surrounding and coating the rice granules

the video! the password is ri$otto

Questions:

1)When the stock (which is mostly water) gets absorbed, where is it going? What is chemically happening?

The water is being absorbed into the rice, mainly composed of starch. The water molecules weasel their way in between the starch polymers and create hydrogen bonds with the starch, effectively trapping the water inside and creating a gelled material.

2) When the rice gets “creamy and thick” you can see a thick opaque liquid surrounding the rice. What is that thick liquid made of? 

This is excess liquid being squeezed from the swollen rice granule. The rice is engorged with water and can’t hold all of it, thus some is expelled from the rice.

3) Can you make risotto like this with a high amylose, long-grain rice?

You can, but the end result won’t be as creamy as typical risotto due to the lack of gelation since there are not many amylose molecules for the water to create bonds between. 

4) We added spinach to your risotto. In addition to the bright green color, what are some nutritional advantages of adding spinach?

As moms everywhere say, spinach most famously contains iron, as well as many crucial vitamins and minerals such as vitamin A, B2,C, K, magnesium, calcium, and potassium.

Thanks for reading! Stop at Nonna Brooke’s kitchen again!