5 Steps to ensure you make the Best Risotto

Ah, risotto – the creamy, comforting Italian dish that holds a special place in the hearts of food lovers worldwide. While its velvety texture and rich flavours make it a standout dish on restaurant menus, making risotto at yourself at home is not easy. Risotto demands patience and following a few steps religiously.

These are the five essential steps that I found guarantee success in creating delicious risotto. Follow these guidelines and you'll soon be wielding a wooden spoon with confidence.

1. Never rinse the rice.

Rinsing the rice will remove the starches that are vital to making the best risotto.

2. Make stock from scratch.

It’s a bit more effort but it is well worth it.

Get 2-3 kgs of beef / chicken bones in equal portions, roast with some olive oil under the grill and then cover with liquid, add spices and then simmer (never boil) the stock for 3-4 hours, remove the bones and then reduce by a 1/3rd.

3. Stir gently

Don’t multitask - you will mess it up. The trick is to pay all attention to your pan while the cooking process is ongoing. Overstirring will ruin the texture and not stirring will result in a rice cake. The trick is to stir gently every 30 seconds or so, but remember that we are not mixing concrete - so be gentle.

4. Don’t overcook the rice.

Ideally your risotto should be done around the 20 minutes mark. If you cook it for longer, you will risk overcooking it having made a bowl of breakfast oats. Know your stove, and keep your pan a a medium simmer. There may be some trial and error until you know at which mark your stove should be, to achieve this.

5. Add your final ingredients to the Risotto after it’s cooked.

Once your risotto has been cooked, let it rest. Don’t touch or stir the risotto once you have turned off the heat. After three minutes stir in 1/3rd butter to 2/3rds parmesan and then gently fold this in for a creamy risotto. I like to add a dash of truffle oil a few seconds before serving but be careful not to add too much, otherwise you get a oily layer.

Risotto Recipe

Ingredients

(for 4 servings)

• 6 cups home made stock or a bought stock that is of good quality (don’t skimp here, the results will not be great)

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 red onion (finely chopped)

• 1 Punnet Exotic Mushrooms (sliced)

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

• 2 cloves garlic (minced)

• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme (finely chopped)

• salt to taste

• freshly ground pepper to taste

• 1 ½ cups or 200 g arborio rice

• ½ cup or 120 ml white wine

• 1 cup grated parmesan cheese

• 1/3rd cup butter

• 1/2 cup fresh parsley

Preparation

1. Add the stock to a medium pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Once the stock is boiling, reduce the heat to low or remove the pan from the heat and keep nearby.

2. Heat the olive oil in a wide, tall pot over medium heat. Once the oil begins to shimmer, add the shallot and cook, stirring frequently, until translucent.

3. Add the mushrooms and butter. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms have cooked down.

4. Add the garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper, stir, and cook for 1 minute, until the butter has melted and the garlic is aromatic.

5. Add the rice and stir until fully coated in the mushroom mixture. Let the rice toast for 1-2 minutes, until fragrant.

6. Add the white wine and cook until the wine has evaporated, stirring occasionally.

7. Add 1 cup (240 ml) of the hot stock and stir to combine. Cook, stirring every 30s, repeating until the stock is fully absorbed.

8. Once the rice is al dente, remove from the heat. Add the parmesan cheese and stir to combine.

9. Stir in the butter and add more parmesan cheese as well as salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

Enjoy! Please tag me on Instagram if you’ve made this recipe, I’d love to see it!

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About Shawn Godfrey

Photo credit: Niki M Photography

Shawn Godfrey is an entrepreneur based in Cape Town, South Africa. After the Covid-19 lockdown saw his business in financial distress, cooking was the creative outlet that helped to keep him sane. To keep track of his recipes, and encourage friends and families to join him, he starts his instagram account The Roasted Dad.

Fast-forward to late 2021 - on a whim Shawn (encouraged by his wife Lianne) enters MasterChef South Africa. It is a crazy time of life: running a 200 people business and struggling to keep it profitable, two small children with a third on the way, and about to move into a new house. But when Shawn gets selected to be one of the 20 contestants participating in the fourth season of MasterChef South Africa, he decides to go all in. Leaving his 7-month-pregnant wife to look after their then three and one-year-old children, he battles it out and comes back home five weeks later with the trophy and a million rand prize money in his pocket.

It all started with an Instagram account, but The Roasted Dad is so much more now. Shawn has stayed his entrepreneurial self and whilst he hosts Private Dinner Parties and Cook-with-Me Demos, does Restaurant Take-Overs, he still runs the lighting company and several other businesses.

On his blog, Shawn shares Restaurant Reviews and Accommodation Reviews, and gives an insight into the wild and wonderful life he leads together with his wife Lianne, and their three children Aiden (6), Olivia (4) and Harvey (2).

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