Garden Vegetable Risotto

Chef Dania Masotti, one of Montefollonico’s most acclaimed and prolific chefs, taught our guests for over fifteen years. Her recipes were easy to replicate in home kitchens thanks to her use of readily available ingredients and her breezy teaching style. We loved following Dania out to her kitchen garden to pick seasonal vegetables to prepare her risotto dell’orto (“from the garden”). Guests report this recipe is their go-to dish for food that tastes fancy without being fussy.

Course: Rice

Servings: 6

Ingredients

6 tbsp butter
1 large sweet potatoe, chopped
3 small zucchini, quartered and diced
8 baby spinach leaves
½ head radicchio, chopped
4 leaves Swiss chard, chopped
10 asparagus tips
1½ cups carnaroli or arborio rice
4 cups homemade vegetable stock
10 10 fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
10 chives, finely chopped
¾ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
freshly ground black pepper
zucchini slices for garnish (optional)
fresh parsley leaves

Instructions

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Sauté the onion until translucent for 3-5 minutes. Add the zucchini, spinach, radicchio, Swiss chard, and asparagus tips. Sweat the vegetables stirring to prevent them from sticking to the pan and adjusting the heat as needed, for about 10 minutes.
Add the rice and cook for 7-8 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.
Heat the stock until simmering. Add one small ladleful of simmering stock to the rice. Stir until absorbed. (This should take about 3 minutes per ladleful.) Continue adding remaining vegetable stock one ladle at a time, stirring and allowing the rice to absorb the stock before you add the next one. Cooking the rice should take about 25-27 minutes in total
When all the stock has been absorbed, taste the rice and make sure it is al dente. Then stir in the basil, chives, Parmesan cheese, and pepper to taste. Stir throughout and serve immediately with a few zucchini slices and leaves of parsley on top if desired.