Risotto Milanese (Saffron Risotto)

A lot of you already know us for quite a while and surely won’t be surprised by this recipe. And for those of you who are discovering our food blog for the very first time, we are going to reveal a secret – we love the Italian cuisine! We also realised that we don’t have that many Italian recipes. We eat pizza, pasta and lasagna so often that they are a constant part of our family meal plan. And who can think of writing a recipe and take pictures of the food that is on their table almost on a daily basis? We wanted to amend that mistake and finally share with you some of our favourite Italian recipes.

So let’s start with a classic in the genre, namely Risotto Milanese, or in simple words – Saffron Risotto. It is super easy to make  and won’t take any time at all. You can have it as either a main dish or as a starter or a side.

Risotto Milanese Ingredients:

• 250 g arborio rice
• 200 ml white wine
• 50 g parmesan
• 30 g sour cream
• 25 g butter
• 20 ml olive oil
• 1 vegetable stock cube
• 1 g saffron
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 garlic clove
• ½ onion
• ¼ tsp black pepper

Preparation:

1. Peel the onion and garlic clove and chop finely. Grate the parmesan cheese.
2. Dissolve the vegetable stock cube into 550 ml hot water.
3. Heat up the olive oil in a deep pan. Fry the garlic and onion until soft, then reduce the heat to medium.
4. Add in the arborio rice and fry for 2 minutes. Stir in the white wine until the rice absorbs it.
5. Set aside some of the saffron for decoration. Add the remaining saffron and some of the stock into the rice and stir until everything is absorbed. Gradually add in the stock and keep stirring until it’s all incorporated. The rice should be soft and slightly sticky.
6. Turn off the heat. Add in the sour cream, butter, parmesan, salt and black pepper. Stir well, put the lid on and leave it for a few minutes to thicken even further. Serve while it’s still hot.

Bon appetit!

Tip:

1. Use shallots instead of an onion to achieve a softer, lighter taste.
2. If you want to finesse Risotto Milanese but don’t have enough saffron, keep most of it for decoration. Put the remaining part into the pan during cooking and add ½ tsp turmeric powder to achieve a delicious golden colour!