Et in Arborio Ego
Last Sunday I cooked risotto - nothing remarkable there, this happens often. I made a chicken stock from basics, perhaps with a little more care than usual. I peeled carrots and onions, instead of just throwing them in as they are, and I roasted the vegetables separately from the chicken bones so they caramelized properly. If you cast your mind back you will recall that it was Superbowl Sunday - an event which does weird things to the chicken economy. The packs of wings that I often use for stock are astronomically expensive, so instead I bought packs of chicken legs, which were being almost given away. The resulting stock was very clear and flavorful, lacking the slightly unpleasant "stickiness" which comes when you use a lot of bones.
I made the risotto as usual, cooking shallot and garlic in butter then adding the rice, followed after some minutes by white wine, then the gradual ladles of stock…all very normal. I then found that I had no parmesan cheese – disaster! The thought of going out to the stores was unappealing. Toyed with adding a different cheese but in the end simply finished it without. Parmesan cheese is is a well-known source of glutamates – which add the taste that the Japanese call umami – an essential booster to many dishes. I expected this risotto to be very flat but on the contrary it was excellent. Without the dominant taste of cheese it seemed lighter and more delicate - not at all bland. In fact you can get glutamate from roasted vegetables, so this would probably not have worked as well without a stock that included these. I also compensated by adding olive oil and butter at the end. Texture was better than with cheese, and the color was pale creamy white as opposed to the usual glowing yellow.
I wouldn’t do this always – it is more of a risotto to eat with vegetables than one to have under osso bucco, but this was an interesting example of less being more.
I made the risotto as usual, cooking shallot and garlic in butter then adding the rice, followed after some minutes by white wine, then the gradual ladles of stock…all very normal. I then found that I had no parmesan cheese – disaster! The thought of going out to the stores was unappealing. Toyed with adding a different cheese but in the end simply finished it without. Parmesan cheese is is a well-known source of glutamates – which add the taste that the Japanese call umami – an essential booster to many dishes. I expected this risotto to be very flat but on the contrary it was excellent. Without the dominant taste of cheese it seemed lighter and more delicate - not at all bland. In fact you can get glutamate from roasted vegetables, so this would probably not have worked as well without a stock that included these. I also compensated by adding olive oil and butter at the end. Texture was better than with cheese, and the color was pale creamy white as opposed to the usual glowing yellow.
I wouldn’t do this always – it is more of a risotto to eat with vegetables than one to have under osso bucco, but this was an interesting example of less being more.
posted by William @ 8:39 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home