Recipe

Risotto alla Milanese

4 servings · prep 10 min · cook 25 min

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• dinner
• italian

Authored by the maintainer; Milanese method with bone-marrow soffritto.

Ingredients

the rice

• 320 g Carnaroli rice (or Vialone Nano)
• Generous pinch (0.4 g) saffron threads — La Mancha saffron co-op
• 1.2 L hot beef or chicken stock
• Sea salt to taste — Trapani salt pans

the soffritto

• 30 g beef bone marrow, finely diced (or 30 g butter if unavailable)
• 1 small shallot, finely minced
• 100 ml dry white wine — Burgundy vineyard

the mantecatura

• 60 g Parmigiano Reggiano, finely grated — Emilia Parmigiano dairy
• 60 g cold butter, cubed

Method

1. Bloom the saffron in a ladle of hot stock. Set aside. · 10 min
2. In a wide heavy pan, melt the bone marrow over medium heat. Sweat the shallot 4 minutes until translucent — no colour. · 4 min
3. Add the rice. Toast for 90 seconds, stirring, until the grains turn semi-translucent at the edges. · 2 min
4. Pour in the wine. Stir until fully absorbed.
5. Add hot stock one ladle at a time, stirring continuously. Wait until each ladle is mostly absorbed before adding the next. About 18 minutes total. · 18 min
6. After 10 minutes, stir in the bloomed saffron with its stock. The rice turns deep yellow.
7. When the rice is al dente — biting through a grain shows a thin white core — pull off the heat. Adjust salt.
8. Add the grated parmigiano and the cold butter cubes. Beat vigorously with a wooden spoon — *mantecare* — for 30 seconds. The risotto should be loose enough to flow on the plate (*all'onda*) but not soupy.

Notes

*All'onda* — wave-like — is the correct consistency. Tilt the plate;
the risotto should slowly move. If it stays put, it's too thick;
if it pools at the bottom, too thin.

Pair traditionally with osso buco — the saffron risotto soaks up the
marrow from the veal shank. The two dishes were almost certainly
invented to be eaten together.