Currabinny cooks: How to make the most delicious baked rice pudding and other rice recipes
Rice pudding is so easy to make in the oven. Picture: Bríd O'Donovan
Risotto is a northern Italian dish created by stirring rice with broth over a stovetop until it reaches a creamy consistency. At its most classic and introductory level, risotto is an incredibly simple dish which relies on just a small handful of very humble ingredients to achieve delicious results: rice, of course, some butter, maybe an onion and some wine, broth and a finishing of parmesan. There is something so soothing and elegant about the process of slowly adding the broth to the rice until the rice softens and the broth reduced and creamy. The technique and adaptability of making risotto means that there are limitless variations and elaborations on the dish.
The main ingredient of risotto is, of course, rice. Rice was introduced to Italy by the Arabs in the 14th century and was cultivated first in Sicily and Naples before eventually finding a prolific home in the marshy Po Valley in the North. Rice became a prized and profitable commodity amongst the elites and merchants of Milan, Venice and Genoa. Paella in Spain, which at the time ruled Milan, has similar beginnings.
