ScarlettMelting Chocolate Risotto
October 22nd 2008 06:31
Melting Chocolate Risotto
About Melting Chocolate Risotto
This is a sweet version of a cream, slightly soupy Italian risotto, only instead of melting cheese you get pools of melting chocolate. Comfort food at its best.
About Risotto
Risotto is a rich and creamy, traditional Italian dish made with a high-starch rice such as arborio, carnaroli or vialone nano. It is one of the most common ways of cooking rice in Italy.
It originated in North Italy, specifically Eastern Piedmont, Western Lombardy, and Veneto (where vialone nano comes from), where rice paddies are abundant. It is one of the pillars of Milanese cuisine.
About carnaroli rice
Carnaroli is a medium-grained rice native to the Novara and Vercelli regions of northern Italy. Carnaroli is traditionally used for making risotto, differing from the more common arborio rice due to its higher starch content and firmer texture, as well as having a longer grain. Carnaroli rice keeps its shape better than other forms of rice during the slow cooking required for making risotto due to higher quantities of amylose present within. It is often described as being a "superfino" rice or as "the king of rices".
Carnaroli Rice
About arborio rice
Arborio rice is an Italian medium-grain rice. It is named after the town of Arborio in the Po Valley, where it is grown. Cooked, the rounded grains are firm and creamy due to the high starch content of this rice variety. They are the traditional rice in risotto. Botanically speaking, Arborio is a cultivar of the japonica subspecies of Oryza sativa.
Arborio Rice
INGREDIENTS
110 gm / 4 oz dark chocolate with 70-75% cocoa solids
200 ml / 7 fl oz crème fraîche
about 570 ml / 1 pint whole milk
175 gm / 6 oz carnaroli or Arborio risotto rice
40 gm / 1½ oz golden caster sugar
To serve
pouring cream
1. Preheat the oven to 150ºC / 300ºF. Well buttered a shallow, ovenproof dish with a capacity of 1.5 litre / 2½ pints.
2. Place the dish in the oven to warm through while you prepare the risotto.
3. Tipping the crème fraîche into a large measuring jug, then make it up to 800 ml / 1 pint 8 fl oz with milk, you will need just over a pint to do this.
4. Pour into a large saucepan, add the rice and sugar.
5. Bring it all up to a gentle simmer, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon.
6. Meanwhile, weigh out 40 gm / 1½ oz of the chocolate and break it up roughly into 5 mm / ¼ inch chunks.
7. Chop the remaining chocolate into little chunks as well, and reserve them for later.
8. When the rice and milk mixture has come up to simmering point, add the 40 gm / 1½ oz of chopped chocolate and whisk well until melted and smooth.
9. Pour the mixture into the warm dish, give it one stir.
10. Return to the oven and put a timer on for 20 minutes.
11. Give it another stir and time for a further 15 minutes until cooked.
12. Remove from the oven; stir any skin that has formed back into the risotto.
13. Scatter the little chunks of reserved chocolate evenly all over.
14. Cover with a cloth and let it stand for 2-3 minutes while the chocolate melts into little pools.
15. Pour some cream over to mingle with the melted chocolate.
16. Serve at the table in warmed bowls and have some more cream to hand round.
**From “The Delia Collection Chocolate” and “Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia” **
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