How to Make Risotto Without A Recipe

Look at all that risotto.

Yeah, sorry about that (laughing).

Ah!

(upbeat music)

So you know when you go to a restaurant

and you see risotto on the menu,

it always says that disclaimer,

please allow 30 minutes.

And you're like, well that means

it must be a complicated, fancy dish.

But it's really not.

30 minutes, that's a normal Tuesday night dinner.

And today I'm going to show you

my favorite way to make risotto.

Don't need a recipe and you don't even need

to measure anything.

I'm going to be making carrot ginger risotto

with some shrimp.

First you start off with some alliums.

Chop it up nice and fine.

Then you want to just put those onions

in there to sweat.

Cook them until they're nice and soft and translucent.

I like to use a mixture of olive oil and butter.

While the onions are softening,

I also want to add some ginger to them.

It's gonna add a nice depth.

For risotto, best kind of rice to use is translucent

or any sort of short grain, white rice.

You need it to be white rice

because it has that nice starch in it

that turns into thick, creamy risotto.

About a quarter cup of rice

per person you're serving

or just a handful, you don't need to measure.

Stir it up and you want your rice

to get nice and coated with fat.

Once the rice is shiny and translucent,

then it's ready.

I'm also going to add some grated vegetables

to add extra flavor and extra nutrition to the risotto.

I have some carrots here,

grated beets are also really fun,

they add a nice color too.

Now we want to deglaze with some wine.

I happen to have some vermouth open

so I'm going to do that because I don't want

to open a whole other bottle of wine

just for deglazing the pan.

Just a splash.

(sizzling)

Stir it, and then you want it to almost evaporate.

A lot of people think when you make risotto

you have to use hot broth.

It really doesn't matter,

you can use room temperature broth or cold broth.

You can use any kind of stock you want.

Today I'm using chicken stock.

You're just going to keep dumping in

as you go and stirring it.

There's no exact measurement, it's all by feel.

You don't want to ever let the bottom

of your pot dry out

so you always have to keep a half an eye on the pot

and keep adding the broth as you go.

The way that it gets all creamy and delicious

is by slowly absorbing the liquid bit by bit.

So I'm stirring and stirring after each addition.

That's why it's important the learn the process

and then you can do it over and over and over again

without following a recipe.

While this is starting to cook,

I'm going to make my risotto topping.

Today I'm going to top my risotto with shrimp

but you could top it with anything you want.

It makes it feel more like a dinner

rather than a side dish or a starter.

Alright, so I'm just going to sear

those shrimp really quick,

you don't want to over cook them.

About three minutes per side.

Meanwhile, you also have to keep stirring the risotto.

It's a little bit of a dance but it's fun right?

Making risotto is also kind of like getting a steam facial.

And it smells good.

Alright, so the shrimp is good.

Just gonna let it hang out there until we're ready.

So here we go, we're just adding more broth.

I think it's kind of soothing

that you just have to stand there

and keep stirring it.

It only takes half an hour, just enjoy that time.

You know if you open some wine for the risotto,

just pour yourself some wine, just hang out.

Alright, so our risotto's almost done.

Starting to get nice and thick and creamy.

You actually don't want to cook the rice

until it's super mushy, mushy.

You want it to be a little bit al dente

like a good pasta.

It's a little bit too crunchy,

I guess I can just add a little more water

if I need more liquid.

Another thing a lot of people do

is they cook it so that

过多的液体被吸收。

You want it to lie flat when you put it in a bowl.

You can always add more liquid if you need to.

So the risotto is the perfect texture now.

Needs a little salt, little pepper.

And then you always want to finish your risotto

with something creamy or cheesy.

Just something to give it

that extra rich, cheesy, creaminess at the end.

Top it off with shrimp

and then some parsley to finish.

Alright, so this is ready to go.

Time for dinner.

So that's how I make risotto, now, it's your turn.

(upbeat music)

Now wasn't that easier than you thought it would be?

Now that you know how to make risotto

without a recipe, you can make it in 30 minutes

any night of the week.

I'm going to take this one for my dinner.

You choose whichever flavor you want.

Bye.

(upbeat music)