Gordon Ramsay's Tomato and Mushroom Risotto Recipe - Food.com (2024)

FAQs

What is Gordon Ramsay's recipe for risotto? ›

"Boil salted water, throw in the rice, boil it for nine minutes, strain it and throw it on a sheet pan. It's 90% cooked, so all you're doing is just picking it up. Once it's blanched, I can make risotto, from beginning to end, in three minutes."

Risotto in Italy is often a first course (primo), served before a second course (secondo), but risotto alla milanese is often served with ossobuco alla milanese as a one-course meal.

Use Salted Water Instead of Broth in Risotto

It's an ingenious tip on many levels.

Always use warm stock.

Warming the broth before adding it to the warm rice coaxes more starch out of each grain of rice and helps prevent it from overcooking. Cool broth takes longer to warm up in the risotto pan and may shock the grain into holding onto its starches while the rice itself continues to cook.

In Italy, when it is not used as a complete meal, risotto is considered a main dish, and is usually served with small portions of meat or light vegetable side dishes. For example, it is very common to pair risotto with a couple of lemon escalopes, or with bresaola and arugula.

Most Italians eat risotto with a fork, but there are areas where you are given a spoon by default to eat it: it happens in Campania, for example, but not only there. It partly depends on convenience and habits.

Superfino is the longest of the four, and the most commonly used for risotto. Arborio rice, a superfino variety, is the most commonly used outside of Italy, while Carnaroli, Vialone Nano and Baldo are all routinely popular varieties used to create this quintessential Italian dish.

Yes, the foundational creaminess of well-made risotto should come from the starches that the grains release slowly over the cooking process—but a bit of actual cream doesn't hurt, either. Make sure to season the risotto with salt after you've added the whipped cream.

What is the best rice for risotto? ›

Arborio is the most popular short-grain rice for making risotto. It is capable of absorbing large amounts of liquid and produces a relatively creamy risotto with a hearty texture. Carnaroli is a plumper, larger grain of rice that has a high starch content.

This classic Italian recipe is characterized by four main steps—tostatura, sfumatura, cottura and mantecatura—in which the rice is toasted, the wine is added, the rice is patiently stirred, and finally, the dish is finished with butter and cheese.

Arborio is the most popular short-grain rice for making risotto. It is capable of absorbing large amounts of liquid and produces a relatively creamy risotto with a hearty texture. Carnaroli is a plumper, larger grain of rice that has a high starch content.

A hint of wine is often added after the rice to deglaze the pan, but the real star of risotto is the broth. While constantly stirring the rice, warm broth is added in, one ladle-full at a time. Over time, the rice absorbs the broth, releases its starches, softens, and creates that signature velvety texture.