~437 cal · 6g protein · 63g carbs · 15g fat (estimated, per serving)
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Golden saffron risotto spreading in a wave on a plate
🇮🇹 Lombardy (Milan)
Legend dates it to 1574, when a glassblower tinting Milan’s Duomo windows with saffron slipped some into a wedding risotto as a joke. The city kept the joke. The test of a true risotto Milanese is the all’onda — the "wave" as it spreads on the plate.
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🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
Ingredients
Serves 4 —
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1.5 cups carnaroli or arborio rice
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a generous pinch, steeped in warm stock saffron threads
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5 cups vegetable stock, hot
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1/2 onion, very finely diced
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5 tbsp butter (some for the soffritto, more to mount)
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1/2 cup dry white wine
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3/4 cup Parmigiano Reggiano, grated
Instructions
1
Soften the onion in 2 tbsp butter without coloring. Add the rice and toast 2 minutes until the edges turn glassy.
2
Pour in the wine and let it hiss away.
3
Add hot stock a ladle at a time, stirring, waiting for each to absorb — 18 minutes of patience. Add the saffron stock halfway.
4
When the rice is al dente and loose, pull it off the heat.
5
Mantecare: beat in the cold butter and Parmigiano hard, off the heat, until glossy. It should spread in a wave, never a mound. Serve at once.
Milanese tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers — know your destination
📍
Lombardy (Milan). Where saffron turned risotto to gold in 1574.
🗺️
Italy. Twenty regions, twenty utterly different cuisines.
🌍
Europe. Village recipes guarded for generations.
The story behind this dish is up top — worth a read while the pot works.
👩🍳
Richard Moore & Kelsey Tucker
Recipes cooked, tested, and researched by the creators of Spin the Globe. How we build our recipes →
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