Locals in the Langhe area of Piedmont, in northern Italy have a wide variety of culinary delight, as we talked about in this previous article on Foods of the Langhe. Given that this area produces some of the best red wines in the world, it is fitting that many of the traditional dishes have red wine as a key ingredient, like risotto. Want to make a good risotto just like a real langarolo? Here are a couple of tricks…

The Key to a Good Risotto

The north of Italy has an abundance of rice fields, making risotto a classic dish from the region. While there’s a vast array of risotto dishes, that vary by ingredients, toppings, and garnishes (check out our recipe for Risotto with Pumpkin and Prosecco), there are a few important aspects that are always maintained.

1) Use carnaroli rice; this is because when toasting the grains they maintain their integral shape.

2) To help keep each chicco or grain of rice separate, a good risotto starts with toasting the rice first, instead of just throwing rice in boiling water. By toasting the grains with finely chopped onions, you help them create a little bit of ‘shell’ to help them not become too soft.

3) Use hot broth, not cold or room temperature broth. The hot liquid will keep the rice always at the same temperature while cooking, to maintain an even cooking time. Using cold broth would stop the cooking process whenever added, and this risks a soggy risotto. (Need a both recipe? We have a classic Italian broth recipe here!).

4) Keep stirring the risotto while it’s cooking. A good risotto is not meant to be ‘mushy’, but rather creamy, this creates an effect known in Italian as mantecato, or creamed.

5) Don’t overcook the risotto! The grains should still be al dente when you get to the final step of mixing in butter and grated parmesan which fuses with the starch from the rice to create its famous creamy texture.

6) Another trick for good risotto is to deglaze it; this is done immediately after the toasting. When your rice grains are nice and hot, add your wine and let it cook off. It will give your risotto a touch of acidity and depth of flavor. While normally, to maintain the rice’s natural white color, white wine (or sparkling wine too) is used. However, using red wine instead of white wine can be a great alternative to add color to a risotto.

Tuma (Toma) Piemontese Cheese

While the above steps are ‘musts’ for a good risotto, what ingredients a chef chooses to add flavor to the risotto is the most fun part - it allows for great experimentation and variety when making risotto. For this recipe, we’ve had Aldo Clerico’s delicious red wines on hand and ‘sacrifice’ one of his red wines to use in the risotto to make the risotto extra flavorful. We also added a local piedmontese cheese called tuma, sometimes spelled toma. The agricultural side of Piedmont, especially heading out of the vineyards and into the mountains and hills, is rich with livestock. This leads to a variety of local cheeses crafted from various mixtures of sheep, goat, and cow’s milk. Within this general class of tuma, there is a flavor for every use, thanks to different milk mixtures and aging times. The most classic ‘tuma piemontese’ is made from 100% cows milk, has a semi-soft texture and a relatively mild flavor. This helps to not overpower the flavor from the red wine. If you cannot find tuma locally, it can be substituted with monterey jack cheese whose flavor is similar to tuma piemontese, or experiment with another semi-soft cheese!

Try Risotto all’Aldo Clerico

While testing this recipe, Jacqueline Mitchell who is a chef at local favorite Trattoria Risorgimento in Trieso, Italy, she had red wines from local Langhe native and winemaker, Aldo Clerico. She used Aldo Clerico’s Langhe Nebbiolo, although in the past she has used his Barolo for a rich risotto. At our upcoming VeroTalk Sunday February 20th at 3 pm ET / 12pm PT Jacqueline will be cooking this dish (plus others) live from Trattoria Risorgimento, with Langhe native and winemaker Aldo Clerico, where she plans on experimenting with Aldo’s Dogliani Dolcetto to give the risotto dish an even different, delicious flavor.

Jacqueline says, “Aldo’s wines create such an array of flavors, I can see each and every one working very well with this recipe. Especially with the creamy tuma piemontese melted in, while pairing the dish with his wines create a unique tasting experience and flavors that work very nicely together.”

Try out this Recipe with Aldo Clerico and Chef Jacqueline

Chef Jacqueline created the Risotto all’Aldo Clerico recipe below for you to try with any of Aldo Clerico’s red wines which you can buy online from us or get at several stores around the country. Aldo makes Dogliani Dolcetto, Barbera d’Alba, Langhe Nebbiolo and 3 types of Barolos, a Barolo from vineyards around his house, Barolo Ginestra, a sought after Cru from his wife’s, Valentina Conterno’s, family vineyard, and Barolo Serralunga d’Alba, an area known for its oldest soil in the Barolo wine region.

Not sure which ones to try first? Get one of our specially priced Aldo Clerico sets with shipping included:

• the Langhe Red Explorer Set (with Aldo’s Dogliani Dolcetto, Barbera, and Nebbiolo), or

• the Barolo Tasting Set (with a Nebbiolo and Barolo by Aldo).

Buy Aldo’s wines and join us on Feb 20th for the live demonstration of this dish along with Aldo Clerico. Register for free on Zoom today.

Risotto all‘Aldo Clerico

Cooking and Prep Time: 30 minutes
Portions: 2 portions

Ingredients:
1 Onion (finely chopped)
280g (1 ¼ cups) Uncooked Carnaroli Rice
2-3 quarts Vegetable Broth
½ cup of a Red Wine from Aldo Clerico
1 cup Tuma Cheese (in small cubes)
½ cup grated Parmesan Cheese
¼ cup Butter
Salt to taste

Suggested Wine Pairings
Aldo Clerico’s Red Wines: Dogliani - Barbera - Nebbiolo - Barolo - Serralunga Barolo - Barolo Ginestra

Procedure:

1. Bring the broth to a simmer, and leave it hot.  In a dutch oven or low-sided pot, begin to sauté the chopped onion. Be careful to not brown the onion, and when soft add in the rice over high-heat. Stir constantly to toast the rice. When the rice is hot to touch and starting to stick to the bottom of the pan, deglaze with the red wine, stirring constantly.

2. When the wine is cooked off, begin to add the broth, one ladle at a time, stirring constantly. Be careful to not add too much broth at any given one moment: you want the rice to be sautéed, not boiled. Continue this process until the rice is cooked, approximately 15 minutes.

3. When the rice is cooked, add in the tuma cheese cubes and stir to mix well and letting the cubes start to melt.  Lastly, add the butter and parmesan and mix quickly to create a creamy texture.  Add salt to taste to finish off.

4. Serve hot with perhaps a drizzle of red wine reduction and few reserved cubes of tuma on top for garnish with a glass of red wine to enjoy with it.

N.B. This recipe is courtesy of Trattoria Risorgimento in Trieso, Italy.

Shop Red Wines from Aldo Clerico for Your Risotto