Turmeric risotto

Turmeric risotto with paprika and tomato

Recipe and photos by Nanni Baracco.

Ingredients for 2 people:

• 160 gr of Ecorì Classic Carnaroli rice
• one shallot
• vegetable broth
• turmeric
• paprika
• one tablespoon of tomato paste
• grated pecorino cheese
• chopped pistachios
• butter
• salt
• pepper

Preparation

Prepare the vegetable broth with celery, carrot, and a peeled onion. If you're short on time, you can prepare the broth with a vegetable stock cube, choosing a version free of glutamate and with quality ingredients.

Peel and finely chop a shallot and prepare a soffritto with extra virgin olive oil. Add the Classic Carnaroli rice, toast for a couple of minutes, then add salt and pepper. In this recipe, there's no need to deglaze the rice with white wine, as the tomato paste already provides good acidity to the dish.

Start cooking the rice, adding a ladleful of boiling vegetable broth at a time and stirring occasionally. Add the tomato paste halfway through cooking: one tablespoon for two people should be enough. Then add the paprika and turmeric powder towards the end of cooking. The advice is to add the spices gradually, to adjust the quantity according to the desired intensity.

At the end of cooking, turn off the heat and let the risotto rest for a minute before creaming it. Add cold butter from the freezer to help give the risotto more creaminess, thanks to the thermal shock produced by the frozen butter. Also add some grated pecorino cheese and mix well.

Serve the turmeric risotto with paprika and tomato, adding chopped pistachios. A simple and versatile dish that you can also prepare in the summer, replacing the tomato paste with fresh tomatoes, peeled, deseeded, and blended.