Recipe: Basic Rissotto

BASIC RISSOTTO
Makes 4 side-dish servings or 2 very generous main-dish servings.

About 4 cups Vegetable, Garlic or Defatted Chicken Stock, or Canned Broth, as needed
1 tablespoon Olive Oil or Unsalted Butter
1/2 small Onion, peeled and minced (about 1/4 cup)
1 cup Arborio Rice
1/4 cup Dry White Wine
Salt to taste
1 Large Egg (optional), beaten
1 ounce Parmesan Cheese, grated (1/4 cup)
Freshly ground Black Pepper to taste

Have the stock simmering over low heat in the saucepan. Heat the oil or butter over medium heat in the skillet and add the onion. Cook, stirring, until the onion begins to soften, about 3 minutes. Add the rice and cook, stirring, until the grains of rice are separate and beginning to crackle, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the wine and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. The wine should bubble, but not too quickly - you want some of the flavor to cook into the rice before it evaporates. When the wine has just about evaporated, stir in a ladleful or two of the simmering stock, enough to just cover the rice. The stock should bubble slowly. Cook, stirring often, until it is just about absorbed. Add another ladleful of the stock and continue to cook in this fashion, not too fast, and not too slowly, adding more stock when the rice is almost dry, for 20 to 25 minutes. Taste a bit of the rice. Is it cooked through? It should taste chewy but not hard in the middle - and definitely not soft like steamed rice. If it is still hard in the middle, you need to add another ladleful of stock and cook for another 5 minutes or so. Now is the time to ascertain if there is enough salt. Add if necessary. Add another small ladleful of stock to the rice. Beat together the optional
egg and the Parmesan, stir into the rice, and immediately remove from the heat (if not using the egg, just stir in the Parmesan with the last ladleful of stock). Season with pepper, taste one last time, and adjust the salt. The rice should be creamy. Stir for a couple of seconds and serve. Variation: You can add 1 to 2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed, after cooking the onion for 3 minutes, along with the rice.