Risotto with Radicchio and Saint André Cheese is a dish that should prove that vegetarian dishes can be perfectly satisfying, even indulgent: a risotto made with vegetable broth, and flavored with a wonderful combination of bitter radicchio with the creamy savor of Saint-André cheese.
Ingredients
Serves 4-6
- 500g (1 lb) rice for risotto
- 2 heads of radicchio, finely chopped
- 1 medium onion or 2-3 shallots, finely chopped
- White wine
- Vegetable broth, preferably homemade
- 150g (4 oz) Saint-André cheese
- 50g (1 oz) freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- Heavy cream (optional)
- Butter, or a mixture of butter and oil
Directions
You proceed as for any risotto, beginning with a soffritto of chopped onion or, better yet, shallot sweated in butter (or butter and oil). Then add finely chopped radicchio and allow it to wilt and absorb the flavor of the onion and butter.
Raise the heat, add your rice and allow it to lightly ‘toast’ until it becomes opaque (remember, the rice should not actually brown at all) then add a splash of dry white wine.
When the wine has evaporated, proceed as usual, adding a ladleful of vegetarian broth at a time, until rice is almost cooked al dente.
Just before the rice is done, add a good chunk of Saint-André cheese, together with a handful of grated parmesan cheese and, if you like, just a spoonful or so of cream. Mix vigorously until the cheese has entirely melted and amalgamated with the rice.
Serve immediately.
Notes
You could use, of course, a meat-based broth with this risotto, but this is actually one case where, in my book, vegetarian broth actually produces a superior result. With the richness of the added cheese, a meat based broth would produce a ‘heavy’ result—not that this dish will ever be light.
For tips on making risotto, including technique and choosing the right type of rice, see the post Risotto: The Basic Recipe.
Post-scriptum
Regular readers will have noticed fewer posts than usual lately on this blog. Unfortunately, yours truly has been ‘under the weather’ for the past few days. In the next couple of weeks, I will be traveling, so we will be experiencing a short break here at Memorie di Angelina, but we’ll be back just in time for the beginning of Spring, and a whole new gamut of lighter, brighter dishes for the new season!
Risotto al radicchio e Saint-André (Risotto with Radicchio and Saint-André Cheese)
Ingredients
- 500 g 1 lb rice for risotto
- 2 heads of radicchio finely chopped
- 1 medium onion or 2-3 shallots finely chopped
- White wine
- Vegetable broth preferably homemade
- 150 g 4 oz Saint-André cheese
- 50 g 1 oz freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- Heavy cream optional
- Butter or a mixture of butter and oil
Instructions
- You proceed as for any risotto, beginning with a soffritto of chopped onion or, better yet, shallot sweated in butter (or butter and oil). Then add finely chopped radicchio and allow it to wilt and absorb the flavor of the onion and butter.
- Raise the heat, add your rice and allow it to lightly 'toast' until it becomes opaque (remember, the rice should not actually brown at all) then add a splash of dry white wine.
- When the wine has evaporated, proceed as usual, adding a ladleful of vegetarian broth at a time, until rice is almost cooked al dente.
- Just before the rice is done, add a good chunk of Saint-André cheese, together with a handful of grated parmesan cheese and, if you like, just a spoonful or so of cream. Mix vigorously until the cheese has entirely melted and amalgamated with the rice.
- Serve immediately.
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13 Comments on “Risotto al radicchio e Saint-André (Risotto with Radicchio and Saint-André Cheese)”
Also a good way to prepare them is in oven roasted, whish is also done in Rome. The best artickohe are the ones called carciofo di cima a bit more expensive but more flavoursome in my opnion anyway.
Frank, what a lovely recipe. stop by my blog and collect your award
Ciao Frank 🙂 When I moved from Finland to Italy, the radicchio was a pretty unknown vegetable to me. (In Finland the are almost exclusively found in those ready made salad mixes, and even then I always picked them out because they were bitter :D.) It is pretty much thanks to you that I now enjoy cooking with it very much 🙂 When combined with creamy things (like besciamella, cream and/or cheese), the bitter taste changes from off-putting to delightful 🙂 And the soft purple colour is pretty too! Risotto al radicchio is one of my favourite ways of preparing this vegetable, and after making it several times, I’m slowly learning what works best for me (e.g. I use a bit less rice than indicated here). Today I made a version with chicken broth, taleggio and “lavorazione ruvida” rice (the mouthfeel is a bit coarser, kind of like brown rice). It was my first time making risotto with homemade broth (which I also prepared inspired by your recipe)… And you were totally right, it really makes a world of difference 🙂
Buon carnevale!
PS. I had been an occasional reader of your blog even before moving to Italy, though I rarely cooked from it (mostly because many of the ingredients were not readily available for me and I was lazy, ha :D). But once I moved to Italy it’s been an invaluable resource. At that time I actually started reading your blog from the very beginning. So started with your first post and worked my way back from there, one recipe at a time :D. I’ve learnt so much! That was in August or September 2019, and now I’ve just hit the posts of 2019. I think I’m on page 7 now? So almost there! Then I need to get used to waiting for your new posts haha 🙂
So, agree, Ginatus, that a bit of cream definitely helps cut the bitterness of the radicchio. Even if some Italian friends I know consider adding cream to risotto as a kind of heresy. 😉 I’m so happy to hear you’re enjoying the blog and especially cooking from it. It means a lot to me to know folks are making use of my labor of love. Heartfelt thanks for your loyal readership!
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Hi, where does the Saint -Andre' cheese comes from? Is it Italian?
I always make it with chicken stock… but it is one of my favorite risottos… the bitter and the sweet and the rich just hit all the flavor centers! Will try vegetable. Have a great trip!
The risotto looks fabulous. You are absolutely right that you can indulge and be completely satisfied with a vegetarian dish. Love it.
Thanks, folks! Feeling better and heading off for a few days–on business, unfortunately, but should have some time to spare for pleasure, including of culinary sort, in Paris…
so creamy and delicious looking .. get to feeling better for your trip, hope it's for pleasure
Great flavours! I think I would definetely use the vegetable stock! Sounds yummy! Hope you feel better soon and that you enjoy your journey across the world!
Hope you are feeling better there is a lot illness going around at the moment what with all the cold weather here in the UK. Enjoy your trip and I look forward to more lovely recipes…..
I would have never thought of adding radiccio to a risotto, but it makes it so pretty!