If you are very fortunate enough to find Radicchio Trevisano,with its wonderful flowery, stripey, curly cardinal red and white heads, then making a risotto seems one of the best ways to make use of it. At this time of year you can enjoy a very traditional chicory head shaped radicchio grown in the Isle of White, or the spherical Chioggia radicchio, which I do not much care for.
You can ring the changes with this recipe. If you prefer a slightly deeper colour, and richer taste, then use a red wine instead of the white wine. As you can see in the picture, I have used thin slithers of fresh radicchio, right at the top of the plant, to create a crunchy and bitter topping, although, I must admit, English radicchio is nowhere near as bitter as the taste I remember from Italian holidays in the Veneto, from where this dish comes.
Risotto al Radicchio
Ingredients to serve 4 people
300g. Arborio or Carnaroli or Vialone Nano risotto rice
4 heads of radicchio, washed, trimmed and finely chopped
100g. unsalted butter, divided into two 50g. portions
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
Sea salt and freshly grated black pepper
150 ml. dry, Venetian white wine
1.5 litres of homemade vegetable stock
Parmiggiano Reggiano for grating
Method
- In a heavy bottomed sauté pan, lightly fry the chopped onion in 50g. butter and sea salt till soft and transluscent. I use a cartouche and a little bit of stock to create steam. Add the rice, and mix very well, to ensure that all the grains are coated.
- Add the white wine and evaporate the alcohol. Keep stirring well, so that the rice grains do not stick and burn.
- Add the chicken stock, ladle by ladle, always waiting for the rice to absorb the stock fully and gradually. As you add the second ladle, add in the chopped radicchio slices. Keep adding the stock and stirring conscientiously until the rice is al dente.
- When the rice grains are cooked and al dente, take the sauté pan off the heat. Stir in the remaining 50g. butter, some freshly grated black pepper and a good 3 tbsps. of freshly grated Parmiggiano Reggiano. Serve immediately.
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