Risotto – Inside and Out

Cooking risotto is like building a sand castle. The thoughtfulness in choosing the right sand that is firm under pressure, yet smooth for carving, is the exact same thoughtfulness used in choosing the prefect rice for risotto that must be creamy and sticky enough to roll into an arancini…If you don’t get it right, the whole thing collapses.

Well, we think we got it right. The vialone nano is a stubby, small grain rice that can absorb twice it’s weight in liquid, making it much creamier and tasty. The perfect choice for the arancini. It’s also the unanimous choice in Veneto and is provided to us by the Giuseppe Melotti farm in the South of Verona where rice is life, and worth celebrating at the yearly “Risotto Festival” in the village of Isola della Scala this fall. The classic rice dish at the festival is the “Risotto all’Isolana” with veal, sirloin, pepper, cinnamon, rosemary, and parmesan cheese. Book my trip now.

They have a wonderful website.

The vialone nano risotto is the heart and sole of our arancini (“little oranges”), and it’s filling of spicy pork, scallion, and home-made mozzarella was inspired by cousin Dotty, which is why our arancini is so close to our hearts.

Many customers tell us their first arancini was at Cibo. They had never seen such a foreign object at their table, let alone identify the risotto inside. Do I use a fork or my fingers? It was only the long, warm string of cheese that was familiar. We’re proud to be their first.