Beet juice gives this dish a beautiful flavour and a rich colour.
Beet Risotto
1/4 cup (50 mL) extra-virgin olive oil
2 tbsp (30 mL) butter
2 shallots, finely chopped
2 cups (500 mL) Carnaroli or Vialone Nano rice
1 cup (250 mL) white wine
Salt, QB
4 cups (1 L) vegetable stock
2 cups (500 mL) fresh beet juice
Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, for sprinkling
Truffle oil, for drizzling (optional)
Heat up the olive oil and butter over medium-high heat and sauté the shallots until they’re
translucent. You don’t want to brown them.
Add the rice and stir it around to toast it. The rice will become translucent very quickly. At this point, I like to throw in some white wine. Don’t worry about putting in too much; the alcohol burns off and the wine adds a light, sweet flavor. The wine is absorbed quickly, and you’ll see some of the creamy starch start to be released from the rice.
Add some salt. Lower the heat slightly and add a ladleful of the vegetable stock. Give it a light stir and keep your eye on it. Things should be working at a simmer. When the rice has absorbed that first ladleful, add a second, and just keep going, adding the stock as the rice absorbs the liquid.
Part of the pleasure of cooking a risotto is tasting it every so often, so you can see it come to life and really find the levels of doneness and flavor that work for you. It takes 16 to 18 minutes to make a risotto.
For this dish, at around the 15-minute mark or just before the al dente stage, add a few ladlefuls of the beet juice. This is going to give the dish a beautiful flavour and a rich colour. Once that’s absorbed, your dish is pretty much done. There’s an expression Italians use when cooking risotto—that you want to create un’ onda, which means “a wave.” That’s when the risotto isn’t too dry or too watery but has a nice silky kind of wave when you shimmy the pan. So shimmy the pan and taste it. It should be perfectly al dente, with a slight bite to it. You don’t want it too runny, too mushy or too dry. You’re looking for that balance that is risotto.
When you feel you’re there, take the pan off the heat. Add your Parmigiano and mix it in. Now plate the dish and, if you like, finish with some drizzled truffle oil.
Courtesy David Rocco www.davidrocco.com