Tomato Risotto

- Total Time
- 30 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- 1large onion, diced (about 1½ cups)
- Salt and pepper
- 1½cups arborio or carnaroli rice
- Pinch of red-pepper flakes
- 2garlic cloves
- ½cup white wine
- 2cups diced ripe red tomatoes
- 3cups boiling water or vegetable broth
- ½cup grated pecorino or Parmesan, plus more for serving
- 4medium tomatoes, in different colors, sliced
- Chopped parsley, for garnish
- Snipped basil, for garnish
Preparation
- Step 1
Put 3 tablespoons olive oil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat, then add the onion, and season generously with salt. Add pepper to taste, and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
- Step 2
Add the rice and cook the onions, stirring, until the onions are barely brown, about 2 minutes. Add red-pepper flakes, garlic, white wine and diced tomatoes, and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated, about 5 minutes more.
- Step 3
Add 2 cups boiling water and adjust the heat to a brisk simmer. Cook for 5 to 6 minutes, stirring well with a wooden spoon every minute or so.
- Step 4
When the liquid is absorbed, add remaining 1 cup water and continue to cook for another 5 minutes, until the rice is cooked, but the grains are still firm. Taste and adjust the seasoning, adding another splash of water if necessary to loosen the mixture. Turn off the heat, stir in the pecorino and 2 more tablespoons olive oil.
- Step 5
Transfer to a low, wide serving bowl. Surround the rice with tomato slices and season them with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with parsley and basil. Pass more grated cheese at the table.
Private Notes
Comments
I make Andrew Carmellini’s version. It is summer in a bowl! Rather than simply use diced tomatoes, Carmellini recipe has you halve and roast fresh tomatoes in the oven for thirty minutes or so. Peel the skin and smash. Use the tomatoes, which become super sweet, as the liquid base for the risotto. I use a quick vegetable stock instead of water. I riffed on this recently by sautéing some summer squash separately and adding it at the finish. The result was Italian comfort food at its best!
Or, it might be that the 2 cups of ripe red tomatoes are mostly water, bringing the total liquid up to 5 cups.
I don't know. When I make risotto with a cup and a half of Arborio rice, it takes at least five cups of chicken stock (always homemade!) and thirty or thirty-five minutes to cook. I can't imagine how David Tanis gets his risotto to cook so much faster and with so much less liquid. Or maybe what I can't imagine is the consistency of a risotto done his way. Still, the tomato thing sounds like a good idea--I should try it (with my own proportions and timing!).
This was delicious. I peeled and seeded the tomatoes (cut a cross into the bottom, boiled for one minute, then ice bath), which made for a very velvety sauce. For me it was worth the extra 20 minutes of prep. I served it with shrimp, which I added at the last 5 minutes. Next time, I’ll try adding a few TBS of butter to cut the acid a little bit. Definitely worth trying!
This is the best tasting risotto I have ever made! We no longer drink or cook with alcohol so I subbed a mixture of white balsamic vinegar and vegetable broth for the wine then used chicken stock for the remaining liquid instead of water. I served it with gorgeous heirloom brown and yellow tomatoes and sprinkled the top with fresh basil and parsley and crispy fried pancetta and toasted fennel seeds. This is one of those heavenly dishes everybody loves.
The flavors sat next to one another never really blending.
