Food, Photography and Bons Mots
This week’s farmers’ market had the most beautiful grape tomatoes in the history of the world. Impulsively, I bought three baskets. Whoa! What does one person (and a small sweet dog) do with three baskets of ripe tomatoes? So, this morning I bucked myself up…
I know. It’s a puppy. I can’t seem to take a decent photo of the risotto dish I want to share with you, so I’m posting a photo of a puppy. Everyone loves a puppy photo. Don’t get me wrong, the risotto is quite…
I confess that making risotto isn’t (or hasn’t been) a strong suit for me. Don’t get me wrong, I love rice. It is just that, somehow, risotto always seemed like it would be complicated to prepare.
Then my world changed. I got an Instant Pot.
The Instant Pot is a multi-function pressure cooker. You can, of course, pressure cook in it. You also can sauté. Or, you can make yogurt. Or, you can use it as a steamer or a slow cooker. You can pretty much do it all. (It’s sort of the Meryl Streep of kitchen appliances.)
Here is a link to Instant Pot’s website:
No…wait! Where is the history of risotto, you ask?
Rice is believed to have first been introduced to Italy during the Middle Ages via the Arab invasions. Subsequently, Italian farmers found that the Mediterranean climate was well-suited to the cultivation of short grain rice. Yuge profits.
Then, leave it to Italian cooks, the inspired combination of rice. stock, onions, butter, wine, Parmesan and saffron followed. Risotto was born. According to one site (Anna Maria’s Open Kitchen), “the legend of the invention of Risotto alla Milanese goes back to the year 1574. The Duomo di Milano, the magnificent Gothic cathedral, was being built, and a young apprentice named Valerius was in charge of staining the decorated glass for the windows. Everybody was teasing him because he appeared to have added saffron to the pigments to obtain a more brilliant color.
Tired of the teasing, he decided to return the joke and added saffron to the rice to be served at his master’s wedding. The rice turned out so good that the idea spread immediately throughout the city and became the popular dish we know today.”
You go, Valerius! Kind of far-fetched, but then who doesn’t like a good story?
This is my first foray into risotto but this recipe is quite good. I hope to up my game. Sur La Table has a cooking class focused on risotto. I’m signing up. Stay tuned.
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Here is the link to the original NY Times recipe for this dish:
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1015845-pressure-cooker-porcini-risotto
