A special Italian recipe: Risotto with onions and gorgonzola

• Rice: I use 160g for me, cos i eat a lot 🤣, you can consider 100g for each person. We have to use a white rice, I have a "prince" rice of controlled origin grown in Pavia (IT) a large grain rice that has a unique flavor, even eaten alone. There is no need to wash it, the starch will serve to give even more creaminess to the risotto.

You can use any white rice, do not use basmati or jasmin because they are thin-grained and not suitable for this type of dish.

• A onion: A white or golden onion, I will use half of it because I prepare it just for me, I love onion in risotto, we will see then how to prepare it in the best way.

• Nuts: In the original recipe there are no walnuts, but I put them in to give a change of texture to the dish, when you eat the risotto it is soft and creamy and I really like to feel the contrast with the walnuts, which also have a different flavor.

This ingredient you can not put according to your taste.

• A stock cube: I use a meat stock cube, but also a vegetable stock cube, or a homemade stock cube, depending on your taste; the important thing is that it is tasty because it will give consistency and flavor to the risotto.

• Gorgonzola: We need 120 - 150g. This is the best part of the dish... Gorgonzola is an Italian blue cheese with a unique flavor, it is perhaps one of my favorite cheeses also because it is naturally lactose free.

Its flavor is the basis of risotto, so I recommend you seek out just this type of cheese.

Do not use gorgonzola with mascarpone or in combination with other soft cheeses because the flavor and texture would be completely different.

• Olive oil: Extra virgin olive oil, we will use it only to brown the onion, however I recommend using extra virgin olive oil (EVO) because during the cooking of the onion the oil must not reach the smoke point and olive oil is the oil that resists temperature better (its smoke point is 200 - 215 °C).

• Dried parsley: Just enough. we will use it only to decorate the dish and give a little freshness to the flavor.

• Black pepper: Just enough. We will use it as a contrast to the flavor of the gorgonzola and give a spicy note to the dish, black pepper is great because its aromatic note comes at the end of the taste and enriches the flavor range.

• Salt: Just enough. We use very little because the gorgonzola is already very salty and the broth must do its part as well.

1 First of all let's make the broth: let's dissolve in hot water (not boiling) the stock cube we have prepared, when it has dissolved let's leave the flame low under the pot in order to keep it hot. The broth must remain hot for the whole duration of the preparation.

2 Let's chop up our onion. I recommend cutting it while keeping the large pieces, the cooking will be quite long and the large pieces will stay compact and give a unique flavor and texture to the fabric of the dish.

3 We heat a little oil in the pan, adding a pinch of salt and a little black pepper.

When we feel it begins to sizzle we add our chopped onion, the onion must fry so we must turn it every so often without burning it.

The onion will be ready when its color becomes white-transparent, it will take about 3 minutes.

4 Now let's add the rice, we need to prepare our rice for cooking, and to do so requires a process called roasting, roasting will give a more stable structure to the grains.

We must not burn the rice, therefore let's turn it often; the toasting process will be finished after about 5-6 minutes, the grain will become transparent on the surface (as if we had braised it) we will see just a transparent part on each grain.

5 Add the broth until the rice is completely covered, do not put it all, just enough to cover it; from this moment the cooking begins.

6 We cover the pan with a lid to maintain the humidity of the cooking environment and lower the flame, we will wait for the water to dry completely, our toasted rice will take about 5 minutes to absorb the first water, so we are careful, we stir from time to time. When the broth has dried we will add one ladle of broth at a time...no more.... until the end of cooking. It is important to add a little broth at a time because the grains must take it all, if we add too much broth the grains become saturated with water and the cooking cannot continue.

After 8 - 10 minutes taste a grain...if it starts to get soft you are halfway through cooking, remove the lid and let the water from the broth evaporate. Add about half of the gorgonzola and stir the preparation softly to melt the cheese.