We finally made Risotto!!!!

After a lot of delay and some unwanted snow, we finally made risotto!  And not just any risotto, beautiful, creamy risotto with spinach and saffron.  Here’s a look at how we made the best risotto ever:

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

Process

We started by sautéing the onion and saffron in butter in a saucepan on low until the onion was translucent.

We then added the carnaroli rice to the pan, coating it with the butter. And then  some red wine, stirring until it had almost entirely evaporated.

Then the fun really began. We started to add our chicken broth that we had heated in the microwave earlier 1/4 cup at a time.

As we added, we stirred for what seemed like an eternity. We would wait until the broth had been absorbed before adding the next quarter cup each time.

Once all our broth had been added and our rice was thick and creamy like lava, we removed it from the heat and added in our spinach, parmesan, salt and pepper. The finished product looked amazing and tasted even better!

Click HERE to see our reaction!

Questions:

1. The process of the stock being absorbed is actually the water from the stock squeezing its way into the starch molecules of the rice and hydrogen bonding to those starch chains.  This causes the starch molecules to swell up with the added liquid.
2. The opaque liquid forming around the rice as the risotto gets creamy and thick is some of the starch leaking out of the starch molecule as the water breaks some of those starch to starch hydrogen bonds and creates starch to water hydrogen bonds.  
3. Carnaroli rice is truly the best rice for making risotto because it has enough amylopectin to create the desired creaminess while also having enough amylose to maintain the structure and firmness of the rice kernel. An ordinary high amylose long grain rice would not produce the desired creamy final product.
4. Spinach has many nutritional advantages such as folate, fiber, trans-carotene and vitamin c which are all important nutrients for a healthy diet!