My Secret to Creamy Risotto

Saffron salmon risotto from my kitchen with car break-in alterations!

Shambhavi’s salmon risotto

The Story

Have you ever ordered risotto in a restaurant only to be served a bowl of slightly moist, over-salted rice? Or mushy, but not creamy rice?

Well, here’s how you can make perfectly creamy risotto and still end up with rice that’s got just the right amount of toothsome pushback when you bite into it.

I’ve never found a risotto recipe that uses this technique, and I can’t remember how I arrived at it. Did I read it somewhere long ago? Did a friend clue me in? Was it the happy side effect of impatience? (See below.) Dunno.

But I’m now 67 years old, and I want to give it all away before I die. I’m happy to have this Substack where I can share it with you for the very first, and possibly last time. 🤣

P.S. You might notice that the photo of my risotto does not seem to have exactly the same ingredients as the recipe below. This is because when I stepped out to go to the grocery store, I discovered that my car had been broken into, and the ignition system was destroyed! After I watched the tow truck take my car away, I made the risotto with whatever ingredients I had on hand. The risotto in the photo uses green onion instead of leek and fennugreek leaves instead of dill. I also threw in a few shitake mushrooms.

Ingredients

Risotto is one of those dishes where your creativity (and a bit of common sense) can be your ultimate guide. So many combinations of vegetables, protein, broth, and seasonings will be delicious. I would suggest making this recipe and several others to give you a basis from which to explore on your own.

I do not recommend using a pressure cooker (Instant Pot). The resulting risotto will be just okay. Definitely not as creamy as stovetop cooking and adding liquid incrementally while stirring.

For various reasons, you actually can’t just follow a recipe in a rote fashion and expect the same risotto result every time. The brand of the rice, the age of the rice, and the other ingredients you choose all contribute to how much liquid you need to make the perfect risotto.

Frankly, other than the rice, I have never measured ingredients for risotto. If I don’t mention an amount, just use your best judgement or go with your preference.

• High quality olive oil - I like 100% California olive oil, but good Italian olive oil will work.

• Arborio rice, 1/2 cup raw rice per person. You cannot use regular short or long grain rice. It won’t be as creamy. Spring for the arborio, trust me.

• Thinly sliced leeks - only the white part

• Fresh shelled green peas or frozen peas

• Room temperature vegetable broth. Approximately 1-ish cup per serving. I like the Kettle & Fire brand. In any case, try to find a brand with less salt, or make your own.

• Cold white wine - 1/2 cup per serving. It must be cold. Choose a white wine that you would drink, not a cooking wine. As a friend of mine once said, “If I wouldn’t drink it, why would I want it in my food?”

• 1/4 - 1/3 lb raw salmon per person - cut into approximately 1 inch cubes or chunks.

• Saffron - if you can get Kashmiri saffron, this is the best.

• Shredded asiago cheese or other shredded cheese of your choosing

• Fresh dill - minced

• Salt and white pepper to taste

Instructions

The secret to uber-creamy risotto is that the broth is room temperature and the wine is cold. Do not heat the broth and do use the wine right out of the fridge. The instruction to use room temperature broth flies in the face of all other risotto recipes I’ve seen. But this method works!

Thirty years ago when I first made risotto, I may have been too lazy to heat up my broth. Or maybe I had a bottle of wine in the fridge and was too impatient to let it come to room temperature. Whatever. The result speaks for itself.

1. Heat some olive oil in the bottom of a heavy pot.

2. Put in the rice and the sliced leeks and stir continuously until the rice has turned opaque white.

3. Add the peas and the saffron and stir. (If you are adding any other vegetables, add them here.)

4. Add some, but not all of, the broth. Stir continuously until the broth is mostly absorbed, then add some more.

5. Continue this process until you have added 1 cup of broth for each 1/2 cup of rice. The best way to stir risotto is with a wooden spoon. Circle the spoon around the side of the pot, separating the risotto from the sides. Then scoop underneath the risotto, dragging the spoon along the bottom of the pot, and turn the risotto over.

6. Add the salmon chunks at some point, and stir gently without breaking them up into smaller bits.

7. Begin to add the white wine in the same fashion until you have added about 1/2 cup of wine for each serving.

8. At this point, you may find that you are done, or you may need to add more broth to achieve the right amount of creamy goodness. You can also just use room temperature water at this point.

   Taste a rice grain or three to see if it seems cooked enough to you, and use your eyes to assess the creaminess. Add more liquid if needed. The finished risotto should stick to your teeth and give a little pushback when you bite into it. It should not be entirely soft or mushy. You should still be able to see the individual rice grains, but they should be drowned in softly shiny creaminess.

9. Remove your risotto from the heat. Add the cheese and stir until it is completely dissolved.

10. Add the minced dill and stir.

11. Adjust with salt and white pepper. Never add salt and pepper to rice or grain until the cooking is finished.

12. Serve in bowls with extra cheese on the side just in case!

Enjoy!!