2:29pm Friday 2nd February 2007
By Faye Duxberry
The first thing I think of when I someone mentions risotto is splodge.
Memories of my mum's attempt at this Italian masterpiece are lodged in my mind ten years on - a greyish, glue-like concoction that can only be described as congealed and certainly never made it to the dinner table.
This image is swiftly followed by a glazed look as I ponder that risotto is definitely not something I would attempt to "rustle up" in a rare domesticated moment.
I have friends who could throw one together whilst telling you about their day and pouring you a glass of wine I imagine.
But anyone who knows me would be shocked to hear the words "I'll just make a quick risotto", as though it were that easy, come out of my mouth.
So, it was with some trepidation and just a hint of cynicism that I approached the risotto cooking class at Carluccio's.
I don't know what I expected but I was mentally hatching plans to disguise any Bridget Jones-style moments like forgetting the rather crucial ingredient of rice or, worse, setting fire to the kitchen.
As soon as I set foot inside the Chiswick High Road restaurant my fears were instantly dispelled. The place has a real buzz about it and I was greeted by Valentina, a warm Italian woman and food expert at Carluccio's, who introduced me to a couple of the other risotto trainees.
I met Jeanette and Sian, who I assumed knew each other as they did a conversational whistle-stop tour of Australia, diets and their risotto experiences - for this, I could only offer the splodge story so decided to keep quiet!
It turns out they'd only just met but, over a coffee and a croissant, there was a comforting feeling of arriving for a gossipy lunch with old friends.
Jeanette, who lives in Chiswick with her husband and three children, had seen the class advertised in the restaurant and thought it sounded fun.
She said: "I do like cooking and from time to time I'm interested in going on a cooking course but it's very difficult to go away for a few days.
"But this is half a day and you get lunch thrown in."
For Jeanette the Carluccio's class was a chance to get more confidence to try different things.
She added: "Pasta has almost become our national dish and so I like the idea of rice as a bit of a change - it can be very light and vegetarian or go the full hog and make a meaty dish."
It was now time to talk risotto and Valentina was there to impart some of her vast knowledge to us. She explained that it was a case of "eating what you produce".
I love the simplicity of this - risotto rice comes from regions of northern Italy like Lombardia, Veneto and Piemonte so that's what they tuck into on a daily basis.
In the south of the country, wheat is in abundance so pasta is top of the menu but that's a whole different story.
Back to risotto. Planted in March, it looks like a grass when it grows and needs to be kept in water. When the rice is collected in October, the husk or outer covering is removed and the whole grains are stone-polished to get rid of the bran layer and make it ready to cook with.
There are two major risotto rices, carnaroli and vialone nano, which we all had difficulty pronouncing and named them the c-one and the v-one.
Valentina said the c-one was her favourite and this works well for smoother, lighter risotto, say with saffron or wine.
The v-one is a chunkier grain, which contains a lot of starch, and this is good for making thicker risottos and ones with meat.
Valentina said: "Getting the correct rice is one of the key steps to making a good risotto.
"If you don't have good rice you can't get the creaminess that you're after."
Luckily, we had Carluccio's risotto rice, the c-one, to use and so we were already ahead of the game.
There were cooking "stations" set up for us at the front of the restaurant, which seemed a bit public, but we did look the part in our Carluccio's aprons standing by our mini gas stoves.
I was pleased, and a little relieved, to see that all the ingredients had been measured and laid out for us down to a tub of perfectly chopped red onion.
It was a bit like walking into your very own TV cooking demonstration, except without any of Delia's know-how or Jamie's flair in my case.
Still, I half-expected to see John Torode appear and quiz me about what flavours I was hoping to bring out.
But there was no time to let one's imagination wander - we were getting started with Jennifer, the training and development chef, as our guide.
And everything was explained step by step. At no time did I feel that I was rushing to keep up or forgetting to do something vital - it really was a well-thought out, practical and fun way of learning to make risotto from scratch.
After melting butter, frying onions, adding in the rice and red wine (in that order) the real secret to making risotto kicks in - you've got to keep stirring!
At a dinner party my usual trick is to get distracted chatting to my guests, only just remembering the meal before it burns to a cinder, but risotto demands your full attention.
When the wine has reduced by half, it is time to start adding stock ladle by ladle. Keep stirring! The trick seems to be to not let the rice dry out completely but to keep adding more stock when it is almost absorbed. And keep stirring!
This means the porridge-like consistency of my mum's recipe will be a thing of the past.
After about 15 minutes we started tasting our rice to see how it was coming on and then added the remaining red wine as the last ladle of liquid and let it absorb.
Jennifer described the next step: "When the rice is just al dente in the middle and soft on the outside remove from the heat add in a very small ladle of stock and stir."
Last, but definitely not least in my opinion, stir in the parmesan cheese (vigorously) and you can also add a bit more butter to make it more creamy.
And voila. And then it was indeed time for lunch, amongst much discussion of the finer points of making a red wine risotto. Some were creamier, some were redder and some were more al dente but we were all the master chefs of our very own risotto.
And not a hint of splodge in sight.
Jeanette said: "Isn't it nice to go to Carluccio's for lunch even if you do have to cook it yourself?"
I couldn't agree more.
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