Risotto is the most common rice dish in Italy. The original risotto comes from northern Italy, and is one of the most popular dishes in Milano. There are thousands of different ways to cook a risotto. This recipe contains one of them, one with chicken. Actually you can put almost everything you like in your risotto, sort of like a pizza. In old times, the Italians put just what they have in the risotto, fish, meat, vegetables etc. The factor which decides if something is a risotto or not, is the way the rice are prepared before the rest of the ingredients are added.

The rice is the heart of this dish, and therefore it’s crucial to choose the right rice, in order to succeed with the risotto. I recommend that you use Arborio rice, named by the town of Arborio in the Po valley, often referred to as risotto rice. The reason why you should choose a big-grained, round sort of rice is that they absorb very well, and therefore gets very tasty after they are cooked in the wine and stock, which is always added in a risotto. The thickness of the Arborio rice means that while the outer of the rice grain gets very hot, the center of it still stays ”al dente”, as the Italians like to say.

I’m not a risotto expert, but I am a risotto fan, so here is one of my recipes (as mentioned you can just use the risotto rice recipe, and then add some other ingredients if you like):

Chicken risotto, with carrots and broccoli (4 persons):

• 300-500 g Arborio rice or another thick rice sort
• 1 small onion
• 3-5 carrots
• 1-2 glasses of cheap white wine
• 1-1½ liter of chicken bouillon
• 3-4 chicken breast fillets, sliced in smaller bits
• About a half broccoli head

Cut the onions and carrots into small pieces and fry them in olive oil in a big pan or pot, for about 3 minutes. Add the rice and let them fry with the vegetables in a couple of minutes and then add the white wine. When the white wine has been absorbed by the rice you start pouring the bullion over the dish. Keep adding chicken bouillon to the rice until it doesn’t absorb it so quickly. Now, add the chicken and let it cook until the rice becomes soft, and the texture of the risotto becomes very sticky and thick. Add the broccoli, which you have sliced into smaller pieces, and taste the dish with white wine, salt and pepper.

This is just one way to cook a nice risotto. You can just follow this recipe until you get to the part where you add the chicken, and then add whatever you like of fish, meat and vegetables.

I hope you enjoy this chicken risotto! If you do, please leave a comment with your risotto experiences!