Risotto is a pretty simple food if you think about it: You can make a bowl of risotto with just short-grain rice (like Arborio or carnaroli), butter, and stock. From there, the magic of starch and the physical effort of constant stirring—like, so much stirring that it feels like an actual workout—combine to make a bowl of rice that's so much more than just the sum of its parts.
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With an assortment of add-ins (wine, vegetables, cheese, herbs, spices, or all of the above), you can make risotto a meal of decadence. When you don't have as much, a creamy bowl of risotto helps you fake it until you can make it; the technique slowly turns plain rice into something that seems kinda restaurant-worthy. Plus, in stressful times like these, there's something meditative about standing there and mindlessly stirring as you stare at the wall and sip a glass of wine.From classic Milanese risotto to mushroom risotto that'll literally take you on a trip, here are our essential risotto recipes.With white wine and dried porcini mushrooms, this is the classic risotto you oughta know. And since this risotto recipe comes from Aurora Leveroni—the Italian grandma also known as "Nonna Marijuana"—we definitely wouldn't judge you if you swapped in weed-infused olive oil or cannabutter.Beet salad with goat cheese and balsamic is decidedly 90s, and while we're not ready to take the time machine back to the days of JNCO jeans and frosted tips, we've gotta acknowledge that flavor profile was so popular for a reason. Chef Lidia Bastianich turns it into a showstopper beet risotto that you'll want to make for decades.Cooked in butternut squash broth and finished off with even more squash puree, this risotto tastes like a big spoonful of autumn flavor, even when it's not pumpkin spice latte season.
Risotto Milanese Recipe
Beet Risotto with Goat Cheese and Balsamic Reduction Recipe
Butternut Squash Risotto Recipe
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