Risi Bisi Recipes

RISI E BISI -- ITALIAN STYLE RICE AND PEAS

Steps:

• Place chicken stock in a small pot and warm over low heat.
• Heat a medium sized skillet over medium heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil 2 turns of the pan, and garlic. Saute garlic 1 minute, then add Arborio. Toast the Arborio rice 2 minutes, then ladle in 1/3 of the stock. Bring to a bubble. Stir rice occasionally, allowing the rice to get starchy and the stock to cook into the rice. Add more stock when rice starts to become dry. Continue stirring and ladling broth until rice is al dente, 22 minutes. Stir in peas and cheese and season with salt and pepper, to your taste. Serve immediately.

RISI E BISI, ITALIAN RICE AND PEAS

Steps:

• Sauté shallots: Heat the olive oil in a medium-sized pot over medium-high heat. When it is hot, add the shallots and stir to combine. Let these sauté for 2-3 minutes.
• Heat stock and water: Meanwhile, heat up the stock and 1 cup of water in a small pot. You want this at a simmer while you make the rice.
• Add garlic and prosciutto to shallots: Add the garlic and the diced prosciutto to the pot with the shallots, stir well and cook for another 1-2 minutes.
• Add rice: Pour in the rice, stir again and sauté for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly.
• Slowly ladle in stock: Ladle some of the hot stock into the pot and start stirring. Risi e bisi is cooked like risotto, and is supposed to be pretty soupy, so you need a lot of water and you need to stir it constantly. Let this first ladle of stock cook down before you add the next. Keep adding stock, letting it cook down and stirring until you're done with the simmering stock. It is likely that you may need at least one more cup of water to finish the dish, because all that stirring in an open pot means you evaporate more liquid than you would when you cook rice the normal way, i.e., covered. If you think you are going to need more water, add more to the simmering stock.
• When you get to this last cup of water, add the peas: Keep stirring until the water has almost cooked away. Taste some rice and test for salt and doneness: Add a little salt and some more hot tap water if the rice is still crunchy - you want the rice to be a little al dente, but not so much you're gnawing on raw grain.
• Add the parsley and the parmesan and mix well: Your finished rice should be slightly soupy, so it's OK to add a tad more water before serving. Links: Risi e Bisi with Baked Prosciutto Chips - from Sippity Sup Rice and Peas Salad - from The Nourishing Gourmet

RISI E BISI

Steps:

• Heat broth in a small pot on the back burner over medium-low.
• Set a wide, shallow, long-handled pan over medium-low. Melt 2 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons olive oil until butter foams. Set the remaining 1 tablespoon butter back in the fridge to keep cold.
• Add scallions, season with a pinch of salt and stir until sweated and soft, 1 to 2 minutes.
• Add zucchini coins, season with a pinch of salt, and stir until they start to sweat, begin to soften and become a little translucent, about 2 minutes.
• Push vegetables out to the edge of the pan in a ring, leaving an empty space in the center. Adjust heat - a tad hotter - then add the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil, then rice. Stir rice until coated and glistening, and keep stirring until it begins sizzling slightly.
• Microplane the garlic over the sizzling rice, then draw the vegetables into the rice as well, stirring well to combine, leaving a little space - a moatlike ring - along the edges where the vegetables were.
• Add the peas to the empty outer space you just created. Run your spoon through them, keeping them in their outer ring, coating them in the oil and moisture. Season the whole business with another pinch of salt.
• Ladle a generous cup of hot broth over the rice mixture in the center, seasoning with salt at each addition of broth, and stirring as the liquid is absorbed. Add another generous cupful of broth, stirring the rice while it absorbs. Repeat once more with a third cup of hot broth, stirring until the rice starts to show signs of its signature starchy and creamy nature. Keep the peas at the outer edge as much as possible. (This might remind you of making homemade pasta, when you are whisking the eggs in the well of the flour and very slowly drawing in the flour.) This entire step should take about 20 minutes. Adjust the heat slightly along the way for a very gentle, hot steaming - not hard simmering - stirring all the while.
• Add the remaining broth all at once. The peas and vegetables will slightly float on the surface, while the rice will naturally remain submerged. Stir gently or shake and swirl the pan in the classic cresting, swelling wave style, all'onde, bringing everything together - rice, zucchini, peas, broth - about 7 more minutes, maybe 10 at most.
• Turn off heat. Season assertively with black pepper. Stir or swirl in the remaining chilled butter, and finish with the grated cheese. Serve hot.

RISI BISI

Steps:

• Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over low heat. Add the shallots, salt and pepper. Stir until soft, about 5 minutes. Place the broth in a saucepan and simmer.
• Add rice to shallots and stir to combine. Ladle in 1/2 cup of broth and stir. Increase the heat to medium-high and, for the next 25 minutes, continue adding broth, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly. After 15 minutes, add the white wine. After an additional 5 minutes, add prosciutto and peas. Cook until rice is tender, about 5 more minutes. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and stir in the lemon rind, basil and mint. Divide the rice among 4 bowls and serve.

CHEESY RISI E BISI

Steps:

• Heat a medium skillet over medium high heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil and garlic and onion and saute, stirring constantly 2 to 3 minutes then add rice and season with a little salt and pepper. Cook another minute or so then add wine and let it completely absorb, 30 seconds. Add about 1 cup chicken stock and stir. Reduce heat a bit to medium. Stir often and continue adding a half cup of liquid each time liquid becomes completely absorbed. Cook 22 minutes, using as much stock as is necessary to result in creamy-consistency rice with a bite to it.
• When rice is cooked to desired consistency, remove from heat and stir in cheese, parsley and peas and stir to combine and to heat peas through.

RISI E BISI | AUTHENTIC VENETIAN RICE AND PEAS

Steps:

• Make a vegetable broth and set aside. Then shell the peas, keeping the pods aside. Wash the pods under running water.
• Boil the pods in lightly salted water for about 45 minutes. Once cooked, blend them with an immersion blender until they are a thick puree. Then pour the puree into a colander to collect the liquid and remove the fibrous part. Keep the liquid thus collected warm and set aside
• Chop the onion and cut the pancetta into small pieces. Place the oil, half the butter, onion and pancetta in a large skillet. Sauté over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Then add the chopped parsley as well.
• Add the peas and two ladles of broth. Cook for about 5 minutes. Then add the green juice made from the pods, season to taste with salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Then, lower the heat and add the rice.
• Cook slowly for about 15 minutes. While cooking, stir risi and bisi from time to time and, if they get too dry, add more broth. When the rice is cooked, turn off the heat and add the other half of the butter. Then add the grated Parmigiano cheese and stir. The authentic Venetian recipe for Risi e Bisi is ready

DAVID TANIS'S RISI E BISI

Steps:

• Melt butter in a heavy, wide saucepan over medium high heat. Add onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
• Stir in rice and season with salt and pepper. Continue cooking for 2 minutes. Add 2 cups chicken broth and bring to a brisk simmer. Cook 6 minutes, stirring occasionally as broth is absorbed. Add 2 more cups broth and cook for another 6 minutes, until rice is cooked through, but firm.
• Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add pancetta and cook 2 minutes without browning. Add scallions, stir to coat and cook 1 minute. Add garlic, sage leaves and peas. Season generously with salt and pepper. Add 1/2 cup broth and simmer until peas are done, about 2 minutes. Add pea tendrils and cook until just wilted, about 1 minute.
• Add pea mixture to rice mixture and gently stir together. Add enough broth to keep rice a bit soupy. Check seasoning. Stir in parsley, lemon zest and Parmesan and serve immediately.

RISI E BISI

Steps:

• Put olive oil and butter in a 10-in. frying pan over medium-high heat. Cook until butter melts.
• Add garlic and salt and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 1 to minutes.
• Add rice and cook, stirring, until rice is opaque.
• Add broth, stir and turn heat to high. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer undisturbed while rice absorbs liquid, about 15 minutes (then remove cover to check).
• Remove cover, quickly add peas (leave peas on top, do not stir), and return cover. Take off heat and let sit 5 minutes. Remove cover, add parsley, and fluff with a fork. Serve hot, sprinkled with pepper to taste.