How to Cook Risotto

Hey everybody, so, today I’m gonna show you how to make a delicious risotto. But, instead of using rice, I’m gonna use FARRO.

Okay, so we’re gonna do farro. We have some peas because we all have to give peas a chance. Then I have some fresh lemon, I have some shallot, and I have a little bit of red onion, just a little bit to add with the shallot.

I have some fresh garlic, some seasonings, and I’m gonna top it off with
a hunk of gorgeousness–yay, purple cauliflower.

Have you seen purple cauliflower before? Oh my god, it’s like art. Art on a plant. It is so gorgeous. We are going to grate a little bit of Asiago over the top.

This is not a very cheesy dish. It’s just a little bit. If you are vegan, you can totally have this dish, with the exception of the cheese, but you can just leave it out.

I’ve already got my vegetable stock cooking because I got my little set up here and I needed to get a jumpstart, but you want to use warm vegetable stock or chicken stock, and if you are using chicken stock, don’t use it on meatless Monday.

So, put it on your burner and get it…Bring it up to boil and then just keep it simmering. I’m just gonna lower the heat and keep it simmering for right now.

In another pan, I’m gonna get everything else going. So, let me first start by chopping up the shallots. Shallot is just a milder onion and I like using the shallots because they impart a mild taste with the peas, which are sweeter.

So, I’m gonna just mince, fine dice, the shallot and be sure to watch your fingertips, as you’re doing this. I’m also gonna take about a half inch piece of red onion. It is sweet also.

I’m gonna combine the red onion with my one shallot. I like the combination of the two together; it’s just a nice balanced flavor.

I’m gonna get the saute pan cooking right now and the first thing that we’re gonna do is we’re saute our shallot, our garlic, and the onions over medium heat. You can just do that all together and let it sweat it out a little bit and then add a little big of kosher salt.

Next, you want to take half of the peas and put them in a food processor
and puree them to give the dish such a gorgeous color.

I’m gonna reduce this mixture that we have with a little bit of wine. So, I have a cup (I should be drinking this actually), but a cup of the wine is gonna go in. I’m gonna deglaze the pan basically.

And then the whole idea is every time we add a little bit of liquor, we’re gonna do at about half a cup at a time. So that way, we’re gonna get a gorgeous risotto, that’s gonna absorb all the water and it’s gonna be great.

So I’m putting all of my faro in and once it absorbs the wine, then I will start doing half a cup at a time of the vegetable stock. This will cook in about 10 minutes cause this is quick cook farro, so it won’t take a really long time.

Next, I’m gonna add the pea puree in, right at the end because I wanna keep it
pretty fresh and green. I don’t wanna lose that gorgeous color.

So, and the trick with risotto, if you’ve ever made it, is to keep moving the grains around. When you move it around…Now farro isn’t as starchy as Arborio rice or Carnaroli rice, which is what’s usually used in…
Okay guys, so now that we have absorbed all the wine, and just a nice, dry, white wine is the key there. Something that is drinkable. You want to be able to drink whatever you’re cooking with. Used to be that people would use the cheap wine to cook with. Well, that taste will still be imbuedinto your food.

Add another, a couple ladles full based on how the farro is absorbing the vegetable stock.

Now, just to clarify, cause I may have overlooked telling you this, but my bag of farro is about a cup and a half. For a cup and half, I am going to use roughly four and half cups of vegetable stocks and then another cup of wine.

I want it to be creamy. This is not a dry rice dish. This is very creamy.

The last thing that I’m gonna do is pan roast the cauliflower. This cauliflower is like the little crown jewel of purple on top of this bed of greenness and it’s just so pretty. I don’t know, it’s not maybe completely necessary cause the risotto on
it’s own is pretty good, but I think it’s pretty cool.

We’re gonna pan roast our cauliflower and that is going to be the crowned jewel of our dish. I’m gonna chop it into tranches. What I call tranches. It’s like a little steak almost. I’m gonna trim the bottom a little bit. I don’t like to cut off too much though, all of that is edible. Even the stem is edible. Stem has a lot of nutrients in it too.

This is where we’re gonna add about half of our lemon and the other half I’m going to zest cause I told you guys, try and use that skin as much as you can. The zest has a lot of flavor, a lot of good oils in it.

I’m just gonna take the pea puree right into the mix and take a spatula and mix it together.

Finally, gonna take a drizzle of olive oil. Just a little bit on the top and a little Parmesan and I’m doing a little Pecorino cheese.

This is what I like to call Pea Farrotto and my little cauliflower steak.

This is such a pretty dish. And then the finishing touch: A little grated Pecorino.

Isn’t it pretty??

Take a look at the video and tell me what you think!! I love you guys and I’d love to hear from you! Be sure to tune in to The Real Dish LIVE and catch the replays on our You Tube Channel.

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