Nonna's Kitchen 7 - Wayne's Spinach Risotto

The Preamble:
My father Wayne isn’t Italian. His heritage is English/Dutch on his father’s side, and German/Hungarian on his mother’s. His maternal grandmother was a homesteading schoolteacher in the wilds of North Dakota, and his parents lived in the neighboring towns of Williston and Epping, ND; they came to Montana shortly after getting married. Dad was born in Glendive and raised in Livingston and Missoula on a diet of meat and potatoes, hot vegetables and amazing baked goods – simple, wholesome farming fare, and nothing that would be considered even remotely “ethnic” by today’s standards.

My parents met in high school, and prior to their first official “date”, my father was invited to the Cipolato home for Sunday dinner. My grandmother served lasagna; my father ate small portions, very politely, wielding his fork and knife with skill and refinement, doing his best to impress my mother’s family with his fine table manners. The second time my father was invited for dinner, my grandmother served crab spaghetti, a great delicacy – Dungeness crabs, separated into pieces and stewed in the shell with tomatoes and olive oil. The sauce is served over spaghetti, and the crab comes to the table in a giant bowl, dripping in sauce. Dad did fine with the pasta, though I don’t know to this day whether he attempted to twirl the spaghetti on his fork or committed the mortal sin of cutting it into smaller pieces. When the crab came out, he was mortified! It was a free-for-all, as it is to this day when crab is served; my mother’s siblings grabbed legs and claws out of the bowl with their hands and slurped the sauce off before cracking the shells to extract the crabmeat inside. My father sat at the foot of the table, petrified – think deer caught in the headlights – until my grandfather looked at him from the head of the table, leaned forward and said quietly, “You don’t eat, you don’t come back.” Dad gained about 40 pounds after my parents were married a few years later.

My father is an excellent cook, and after a trip to Venice about a decade ago, he started trying to duplicate the risottos they enjoyed so much. Rice never featured prominently in my grandmother’s cuisine; she made risi e bisi – a very wet Venetian dish of rice and peas to welcome Spring, and risotto with squid tentacles and ink when we had calamari, but that was about it. Dad has branched out significantly – his shrimp risotto is sublime, and for Christmas Eve this past year he served a smoked trout risotto, plated with a sprinkle of single malt scotch on top, that outshone anything I’ve ever had in any country. In spite of his heritage, Dad is the acclaimed risotto expert in the family, putting all the rest of us to shame. Spinach risotto is his specialty, holding court as the favorite meal of both Nonno and Nonna and my 6 year old nephew, Dylan. The recipe featured this week is his, reproduced in the form in which he sent it to me.

Despite rumors to the contrary, risotto just isn’t that hard. Yes, it takes about 30 minutes, and yes, you do have to stir it frequently, so it’s not a “start it and forget it” sort of a meal. However, provided you use the correct ingredients and follow the basic template, 30 minutes buys you an amazing first course – rich and flavorful, creamy, hot and comforting. A short-grained rice (Arborio is my choice) is imperative to release the appropriate amount of starch while still remaining intact. Your other ingredients should be of the highest quality, though this is true with anything you cook! Like most of the recipes I’ve presented here the variations are nearly endless, so you can experiment with wild abandon once you’ve mastered the basic technique. My favorite additions are asparagus, smoked salmon with scotch, fennel with shrimp and fresh tomato, Italian sausage with cauliflower, and red pepper puree. Coincidentally, this month’s Cook’s Illustrated magazine features a recipe for almost no-stir risotto; I can’t imagine why you’d bother.

The Recipe:
Spinach Risotto
Serves 4 generously

Following the ingredients list is a copy of the email from my father – he said that the recipe didn’t want to be written in the standard form when he was at the computer this time. With regards to the ingredients, clearly you won’t have access to my mother’s (Eletra’s) broth, but if at all possible, you should make your own from scratch. Again, it’s not that hard. In a pinch, many prepackaged organic broths including Swanson’s Natural Goodness are an acceptable substitute. Please, don’t use bouillon cubes, whatever you do!

Total prep and cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
1 ½ c. Arborio rice
1 Tbsp. butter
2-4 Tbsp. olive oil
¼ - ½ c. finely chopped onion
¼ c. dry white wine (something you’d like to drink, not “cooking” wine)
6-8 c. broth
½ c. spinach (see details below)
½ c. Parmesan cheese, grated
additional butter, to taste
salt and pepper to taste

From Wayne:
The standard rice is Arborio Superfino, not too difficult to find. Carnaroli is a step up but less available. What is necessary is a short grain rice able to absorb the liquid and still remain firm. Lundberg has a very serviceable, organic Arborio in bulk at the Good Food Store in Missoula.

Eletra's broth is essential to my results. Her chicken broth, sans tomato, slightly diluted is perfect for the smoked trout or salmon, or for risi bisi or asparagus. Diluted turkey broth is also excellent. If she adds tomatoes it creates a more complex taste but still works for vegetable risottos. Her hearty beef broth with tomatoes is perfect for less subtle vegetables like broccoli or spinach. For shrimp risotto I use a handful of shrimp plus the shells to make my own broth (with a bit of celery, carrot and onion). I've used a Kitchen Basics Seafood Stock diluted with equal amounts of water successfully. If the risotto is a main dish I may use a more concentrated stock. The broth is brought to a simmer in a saucepan.

I start with at least 1 Tbsp. of butter and several of olive oil over medium heat in a 3-4 qt saucepan. Many recipes call for butter only at this stage but I'd rather add it at the end if I want the flavor. A good quality pan allowing even distribution of heat on the bottom of the pot prevents the rice from sticking. Use a larger pan if you increase the amounts of the recipes so it will not take too long. Too large a pan will cook off the broth too quickly.

Minced onion, 1/4 to 1/2 cup, depending on the strength of the main ingredient, is softened for several minutes in the butter/oil but never allowed to brown. Garlic is added at this time if called for. I recall only using it for broccoli.

The rice is added and stirred for a minute, coating the grains until glistening. 1 ½ cups is usually called for, generously serving four. Every recipe I've seen talks about a wooden spoon. I think silicone spatulas are a huge improvement.

I start timing from this point. Many recipes call for 18 minutes. 20 minutes is probably more appropriate at our altitude. Eletra thinks it too al dente if I stick with the 18. I've seen Italian cookbooks call for 25 minutes. It may be a difference in the heat setting.

Add a generous 1/4 C of dry white wine and stir until it's absorbed. Adjust the heat so that the wine is absorbed fairly quickly-less than a minute. And pour yourself a glass. I truly enjoy the process of making risotto. The wonderful aromas and their synergy are part of the process; first the broth, then the butter and oil heating while mincing onions, the onion softening in the butter, the wine cooking off quickly. I'm salivating.

Start adding the broth, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring frequently to prevent sticking and develop the starch. Allow the broth to be almost completely absorbed before adding the next 1/2 cup but don't allow it to become dry. Same with the wine above. The rice should never be submerged. I look for the action to be more than a simmer but less than a boil.

Most defining ingredients are added in the last few minutes. Especially if precooked. For spinach risotto, 1/2 cup of cooked, well drained spinach (3/4 lb fresh or 10 oz box frozen) is pureed with sufficient broth. (For broccoli, I dice the stalks and add them after I start adding broth and cook the tips in the broth for five minutes and add them at the end.)

The rice should be tender but firm after 18-20 minutes. Take it off the heat. Add the spinach and 1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese (a finishing pat of butter at this time if desired) and stir in well. The pureed spinach will add liquid while the cheese will firm things up. Nonno liked it more like a very thick soup served in a bowl than having a consistency capable of being served as a portion on the plate. Serve with extra parmesan.

This basic method works for most ingredients with slight variations depending on required seasonings. I rarely add salt relying on the broth and cheese. I add pepper to taste usually toward the end of the process.

Thanks, Dad!

Mangia, mangia, fatte grande!