RISOTTO WITH POMEGRANATE, PARMESAN AND RICOTTA

First of all WELCOME to our blog :).

I didn’t really know what recipe start with, but I got pomegranate in my bio-box this week and I thought about using them for a very simple risotto with parmesan and aged ricotta, a cheese that I love.

I must admit pomegranate is perfect for exercises in style, not only for his color that varies from grain to grain, for his brightness and his shape, but also for his fresh and crunchy taste.

So I thought I couldn’t go wrong mixing it with simple and “warm” ingredients such as parmesan and aged ricotta :).

Well.. the result is really interesting, a seasonal must - if you like pomegranate and think it’s worth spending some time shelling all its grains ;).

 

Ingredients for 2:

200g rice, of Arborio or Carnaroli variety. Can be found at El Corte Inglés or at Carrefour
Vegetable stock
1 small onion
30g butter
100g Parmesan
50g aged ricotta - ricotta stagionata in Italian, a seasoned cheese with a rather strong taste. Poncelet sells it, but if needed you can replace it with some strong sheep milk cheese (queso de oveja curado). Note that it's very different from plain ricotta, which is a fairly common Italian young cheese, similar to the Spanish requesón
1/2 pomegranate
1 small glass of white wine

Heat the butter in a large non-stick pan, add the chopped onion and brown it over medium heat. Add the rice and stir it well with onions and butter until it looks slightly translucent; add the white wine and keep on stirring. The wine will evaporate and leave a very tasty essence to the risotto. Once the wine is completely absorbed, add the first ladle of stock and a good teaspoon of salt. Stir until the rice simmers, then turn the heating down. Next steps are all about adding stock and stirring while the rice absorbs the liquid. This won’t last forever, obviously :). Risotto normally takes around 20min to be ready, but after the first 15 mins always taste some grains before adding more stock. This will save you from a risotto that's too soft and will make you able to embrace the famous “al dente” philosophy ;).

Once the risotto is ready, remove it from the heat; add parmesan, ricotta and the remaining butter and stir quickly. Then let it rest for a few minutes; this is crucial, if you like creamy risotto!

Serve adding grains of pomegranate.