#spinachrisotto

Spinach and Tallegio risotto

I love the funkiness and creaminess of tallegio - especially in grilled cheese so this recipe intrigued me immediately. It’s simply marvelous, the spinach, arborio rice and tallegio blend into a rich unctuous almost fondue like creaminess while still being fresh and green and summery

The recipe is modified from the Melissa Clark recipe linked below which is also modified from a River Cafe cookbook recipe.

Wilt 10 oz of spinach (one large container) in one tablespoon butter on the stove. Purée it with some salt and set it aside.

Use the same pan and sweat together 1 medium chopped onion, 3 cups celery, 3 cloves garlic with 5 tbsp of butter for around 10 min on medium heat. Don’t brown them and yes the quantities are correct and necessary.

Add 1.5 cups unrinsed arborio rice and roast till all the water is soaked up and the rice starts getting toasty pale brown (5 min)

Add 3/4 cup of white wine (serve the rest of the bottle with the dish or drink it while cooking). Cook till the wine is all absorbed

You remembered to warm up a quart of vegetable stock right. The traditional method is to add a ladleful at a time as it’s absorbed while continuously stirring. I add the liquid all at once and stir every 3-5 minutes (serious eats did a blog post on this- the risotto is just as good). Add more hot stock if needed. Season with salt.

20 min later- the rice should be creamy and cooked. Add the spinach purée and 8 oz of tallegio (take the rind off with a knife and break the cheese into pieces - try not to eat all the cheese before it goes into the risotto) . Stir till cheese melted! This is a superlative recipe! It’s a keeper