Artichoke risotto (risotto ai carciofi)
Artichoke risotto
Creamy, comforting and quietly elegant: a classic Italian risotto made with fresh artichokes, white wine and Parmesan. Once you’ve mastered the method, you can swap in almost any seasonal vegetable.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings
- Cuisine: Italian
- Diet: Gluten-Free, Vegetarian
Ingredients
- 5 or 6 medium artichokes (or other vegetables; see notes)
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 300 g (1½ cups) risotto rice (see notes)
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed to release their flavor
- About 1 liter (4 cups) vegetable stock, made with a stock cube, 1 onion, 2 celery stalks and 2 carrots
- A splash of white wine
- Olive oil
- A knob of butter
- About 50 g (½ cup) grated Parmesan
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Make the stock: simmer about 1 liter (4 cups) of water with the stock cube, a peeled onion, 2 celery stalks and 2 peeled carrots, cut into large pieces. Keep it hot, and have some extra hot water ready in case you need more liquid.
- Prepare the artichokes: remove the tough outer leaves, trim the stalks and cut off the tips, leaving a cone shape. Cut them in half, remove the hairy choke if there is one, and drop the halves into a bowl of water with the lemon juice to stop them from darkening. Once they are all trimmed, cut them into small pieces (about 5 mm / ¼ in).
- Heat a little olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed, high-sided pan.
- Add the onion and sauté until translucent. Add the artichokes, bay leaves and garlic, and sauté for a couple of minutes, until the artichokes are tender.
- Add the rice and toast it for a few minutes, stirring, until the grains turn translucent.
- Pour in the white wine and stir until it evaporates.
- Add the hot stock one ladle at a time, stirring well and waiting until the liquid is absorbed before adding more. Season with salt and pepper.
- Start tasting the rice after about 15 minutes. When it is cooked but still firm to the bite (al dente), turn off the heat, remove the bay leaves and garlic, stir in the butter and Parmesan, and cover.
- Let the risotto rest for a couple of minutes before serving.
Notes
The best rice for risotto is Arborio, Carnaroli or Vialone Nano. Their round, starchy grains turn creamy as they cook, unlike basmati or other long-grain rice, whose grains stay separate.
You can replace the artichokes with almost any vegetable that can take 20 minutes or more of cooking without turning mushy (so not broccoli). Asparagus, wild mushrooms, squash, peas and radicchio all work well. If using asparagus, cut off the tips and add them a minute before the risotto is done, so they stay crunchy. As a rough guide, allow about 150 g (1 cup) of vegetables per person.
A couple of things: Italian risotto is never, repeat never, al dente. The texture in fact should be almost “soupy,” and it takes much more than 15 minutes. Also, please do not use broth cubes of any kind, it is mostly sodium. If you can’t prepare homemade broth, buy some of the quite acceptable boxed ones.
In Italy we always cook risotto al dente, with the rice still offering resistance to the bite. In northern Italy the overall texture of it is more fluid, or as they say all’onda (it means wavy but definitely not “soupy”) whereas in Tuscany we prefer it more creamy. Cooking times varies according to the kind of rice but is usually around 15-20 minutes. (18-20 minutes for Carnaroli and 16-17 minutes for Arborio, for instance) and risotto should be eaten at once otherwise it will become too dry and soft. We always use organic vegetable bouillon in our stock, that has no salt added (salt is 0,5%).
Duuuuuuuude. This risotto is the bomb. I was making it as an experiment–I want to get more into cooking and this recipe is similar to one in a favorite book of mine. It turned out MUCH better than I expected, especially for my first time. Excelllent.