Toasted pistachio gorgonzola dolce risotto

[Antilope]

I haven’t made this, but it sounds really good. This is a recipe from a few years ago on the Chowhound website:

[i]Absolute Best Risotto You Will EVER Eat: Toasted Pistachio Gorgonzola Dolce

Immodestly this is the best risotto that I have ever eaten. I have had risotto at Al Soriso and Dal Pescatore (Michelin three stars), Battebecco and Bitone (one stars in Bologna), da Fiore (one star in Venezia) as well as at least a half dozen more starred restaurants in Italy. I also won a major cooking contest with it several years ago.

I post this because of an earlier discussion about “pressure cooker” risotto and the current risotto discussion. For those on this board who are into cooking make this EXACTLY the way I describe. Don’t make it if you CHANGE ANYTHING. This is expensive and somewhat time consuming but it will be the most intensely flavorful dish of its kind that you will ever eat. Again, make absolutely certain that you use EXACTLY the ingredients that I describe. As much as anything this is a technique dish but when you get it down you will absolutely WOW your friends or customers.

TOASTED PISTACHIO GORGONZOLA DOLCE RISOTTO

1 pound vialone nano arborio rice (carneroli is acceptible as substitution)
1/4 cup olive oil (as good as you can find, i.e. Badia Coltibuono, Castello di Ama, etc.)
1 sweet onion (Vidalia, Texas Sweet, etc.) finely chopped to equal one cup
1 1/2 cups chardonnay (I use Beringer or a wine at least equal to this-NOT a cheap wine.)
2 cups chicken stock (REAL chicken stock, not from a can or a cube)(frozen chicken stock that sells for $3.99 for 8 ozs. is OK) Use WARM chicken stock that you keep heated in a separate pot over low heat.
7/8 pound Gorgonzola DOLCE (NOTE: You MUST use the dolce, no other gorgonzola will do. Don’t make this if you can’t find it!!!) The gorgonzola
should be broken up into pieces or one to two inch soft chunks that have sat at room temperature for an hour or more.
1/2 pound unsalted butter (Pleugra, Kate’s, European, absolute best you can find.) I slice the butter one inch thick and let the slices sit at room temperature for at least an hour.
1/2 cup toasted (in oven for 3-4 minutes at 325 degrees) pistachios, chopped that you have shelled yourself. Use everything, chopped nut and “dust” but remember you want these for crunch as well as flavor. I might even use a bit more than this. Use unsalted pistachios.
10 ozs. Reggiano Parmegiano grated which will equal about three cups in volume. Grate this yourself from the best and most moist brick you can
find.

I use an All Clad 3 1/2 quart pan and a wooden spoon with a flat side for stirring.

In the sauce pan over medium to medium high heat (6 to 7 on a scale of 10) heat olive oil.
Add onions until they sweat (several minutes). Add rice and toast stirring constantly as it cooks for two minutes or so.
Add wine and cook until completely reduced stirring frequently. When the wine has completely disappeared start adding stock one ladle at a time (about 2/3 cup) and cook stirring constantly until the rice absorbs the stock. Repeat until all of the stock is absorbed.

After 8 or 9 minutes of this add the gorgonzola dolce. Continue to stir the cheese into the mixture for another four minutes. Remove the pan from the heat. Add the butter, toasted pistachios and reggiano. Gently stir all together thororughly.

Serve by itself in a large white plate or pasta bowl. This is extremely filling and very intensely flavored. The above recipe will serve at least eight because of this. Again do NOT make this if you cannot find EXACTLY the ingredients called for. This is risotto as an art.

Please post on here your results if you make it EXACTLY as I state. I am sorry to be so overbearing but I have friends who try to take shortcuts and they don’t understand why “mountain” gorgonzola doesn’t have the sweetness or even the creamy texture of dolce or grana tastes different than reggiano. All arborio rice is not the same. If you take the time and trouble this is a dish that could be served at a three Michelin starred restaurant.[/i]

Source: recipe as posted on Chowhound.com

[Antilope]

Risotto (Italian Rice) Recipe Review

You said you wanted a review of your recipe, so here goes. Remember you asked for it, so don’t blame me.

I made this and it didn’t taste very good. I give it about 1 star, or maybe 1/2 star. Maybe you should re-check your recipe. I don’t know why some people expect other cooks to test and perfect their recipes. Here’s what I did to help and try to make your recipe better. I also speeded up preparation of the recipe.

I made it, but substituted Calrose rice for arborio rice as I was out of it and also out of Minute Rice. I don’t normally buy Calrose, but the Dollar General had it on sale.

Then I had some leftover deep fryer oil that had fried some catfish and a deep fried turkey. It was still good, so I used this instead of the expensive olive oil. Olive oil tastes funny anyway.

I also used dehydrated onion flakes instead of a Vidalia onion. That saves chopping and peeling and crying. Make note of that.

I had 1/3 of a bottle of MD 20/20 so I used that instead of the chardonnay. It was kind of strong so I diluted it with some tap water.

To save time I used Knorr Chicken bouillon powder instead of chicken stock. Who has all day to boil a chicken just for the juice?

That Gorgonzola dolce cheese smelled like it had went bad and it had grown streaks of blue mold all over it, so I threw it away. Luckily I had a pound of Veveeta that worked just as well and
added a nice golden color instead of that other pasty white cheese. Too bad the recipe didn’t turn out better. That was a waste of good Velveeta. Luckily I didn’t waste the good Government cheese on this recipe.

I was out of the tubs of whipped margarine and also cubes, so I used some Butter Flavored Crisco instead. I glad I bought the Butter Flavored Crisco last time instead of regular Crisco.
It doesn’t burn like butter does (or go rancid) and still adds that nice butter flavor.

I didn’t have any of those pretty red pistachios, but once you grind up corn nuts it looks and tastes pretty much the same.

The Dollar Store was selling the big cans of Parmesean cheese, so I used that instead of the Reggiano Parmegiano (7-11 said they don’t carry it) and you don’t have to grate it.

My Teflon frying pan only has a few scratches so this Italian rice recipe didn’t stick too much. I just left the burned pieces in the pan. I didn’t scrape them, so the scorched taste wasn’t too bad in the rest of it.

I sprinkled the grated cheese over the top, like you said, but it still looked like it needed something more. It’s amazing how a few crushed Doritos can add color and perk up a dish. You should try it sometime.

I want you to know, I tried my best, but I just couldn’t make your recipe taste good. My family wouldn’t finish it. However, the dog did like it and managed to keep it down. At least I think so, but he did dig some new holes in the backyard and then covered them up.

I really don’t get what people see in risotto (Italian rice). Minute rice and Velveeta is much easier, quicker and tastes better. :razz:

(This was an attempt at parody and humor about how someone makes all kinds of changes to an original recipe and then gives the original a bad review [which they didn’t even make, with all their changes.])

[msbeth20]

Maybe you could add cream of mushroom soup with the bouillon, too.