Martha Rose Shulmans Risi E Bisi Recipes

RISI E BISI

Steps:

• Heat broth in a small pot on the back burner over medium-low.
• Set a wide, shallow, long-handled pan over medium-low. Melt 2 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons olive oil until butter foams. Set the remaining 1 tablespoon butter back in the fridge to keep cold.
• Add scallions, season with a pinch of salt and stir until sweated and soft, 1 to 2 minutes.
• Add zucchini coins, season with a pinch of salt, and stir until they start to sweat, begin to soften and become a little translucent, about 2 minutes.
• Push vegetables out to the edge of the pan in a ring, leaving an empty space in the center. Adjust heat - a tad hotter - then add the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil, then rice. Stir rice until coated and glistening, and keep stirring until it begins sizzling slightly.
• Microplane the garlic over the sizzling rice, then draw the vegetables into the rice as well, stirring well to combine, leaving a little space - a moatlike ring - along the edges where the vegetables were.
• Add the peas to the empty outer space you just created. Run your spoon through them, keeping them in their outer ring, coating them in the oil and moisture. Season the whole business with another pinch of salt.
• Ladle a generous cup of hot broth over the rice mixture in the center, seasoning with salt at each addition of broth, and stirring as the liquid is absorbed. Add another generous cupful of broth, stirring the rice while it absorbs. Repeat once more with a third cup of hot broth, stirring until the rice starts to show signs of its signature starchy and creamy nature. Keep the peas at the outer edge as much as possible. (This might remind you of making homemade pasta, when you are whisking the eggs in the well of the flour and very slowly drawing in the flour.) This entire step should take about 20 minutes. Adjust the heat slightly along the way for a very gentle, hot steaming - not hard simmering - stirring all the while.
• Add the remaining broth all at once. The peas and vegetables will slightly float on the surface, while the rice will naturally remain submerged. Stir gently or shake and swirl the pan in the classic cresting, swelling wave style, all'onde, bringing everything together - rice, zucchini, peas, broth - about 7 more minutes, maybe 10 at most.
• Turn off heat. Season assertively with black pepper. Stir or swirl in the remaining chilled butter, and finish with the grated cheese. Serve hot.

RISI BISI

Steps:

• Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over low heat. Add the shallots, salt and pepper. Stir until soft, about 5 minutes. Place the broth in a saucepan and simmer.
• Add rice to shallots and stir to combine. Ladle in 1/2 cup of broth and stir. Increase the heat to medium-high and, for the next 25 minutes, continue adding broth, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly. After 15 minutes, add the white wine. After an additional 5 minutes, add prosciutto and peas. Cook until rice is tender, about 5 more minutes. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and stir in the lemon rind, basil and mint. Divide the rice among 4 bowls and serve.

MARTHA ROSE SHULMAN'S RISI E BISI

Steps:

• Put your stock or broth into a saucepan, and bring it to a simmer over low heat with a ladle nearby or in the pot. Make sure the broth is well seasoned.
• Heat the oil in a wide, heavy nonstick skillet or saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and 1/2 teaspoon salt, and cook gently until tender and translucent, about five minutes. Add the rice and garlic, and stir until the grains of rice are separate and beginning to crackle. Add the wine, and stir until it has been absorbed. Begin adding the simmering stock two ladlefuls (about 1/2 cup) at a time. The stock should just cover the rice and should be bubbling, not too slowly nor too quickly. Cook, stirring often, until the liquid is about absorbed. Add another ladleful or two of the stock, and continue to cook in this fashion, adding more stock when the rice is almost dry and stirring, for 10 minutes. Add the peas, and continue adding stock and stirring for another 15 minutes. The peas should be tender, and the rice tender all the way through but still chewy. Taste now and correct seasoning.
• Add another ladleful or two of stock to the rice. Stir in the pepper, parsley and the Parmesan, and remove from the heat. The mixture should be creamy (add more stock if it is not). Stir once, and serve right away in wide soup bowls or on plates, spreading the risotto in a thin layer rather than lumping in a mound.