PIC: https://i.imgur.com/E5Jrw3I.jpg
Recipe here originally: Riso al Forno
I don't know if this would interest anyone here, but I made lasagna last weekend, and I guess I thought I needed enough mozzarella for an army. I couldn't bear the thought of more lasagna so I started reading and I found out about riso al forno. There aren't a TON of recipes out there for it and a lot of them are in Italian, but I decided to give it a go. I don't think this is meant to have the super creamy consistency of risotto (I could be wrong; if anyone has any info on this dish, I'd love to be corrected!)
If you don't have arborio rice, I think you could still make something similar, just use 6 cups of cooked short-grain rice.
The basic premise is you parboil arborio rice and toss it with oil and/or parmesan cheese. One recipe also suggested letting the rice cool down completely and then tossing it with 2 whisked eggs which is a great alternative to the cheese.
Then you basically layer it in a casserole dish... rice, homemade sauce, cheese, and then rice, sauce, cheese, and then bake for 25–30 minutes or until the rice is tender. You can use a mix of parmesan, provolone, or mozzarella or I bet you could even skip the cheese completely if you wanted to.
It's basically like lasagna but with rice. I thought it turned out really good so I thought I'd share the recipe here.
I made a homemade meat sauce, but feel free to disregard that and just use ~6 cups of your favorite sauce. Marinara or a meat sauce would both be great in this.
Recipes I've seen online suggest that you could add cured meat to this or a layer of thinly sliced hardboiled eggs too. One lady added eggplant and peppers to hers and that looked really good. I've also seen it suggested to toss your parboiled rice with a ladle of the sauce too before layering.
Ingredients
- 2 cups arborio rice
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup shredded parmesan cheese divided (or omit, it's not totally necessary)
- 1 teaspoon neutral oil
- 2 pounds ground meat of choice (beef, sausage, pork, turkey, or a mix)
- 2 tablespoons butter plus more for greasing the casserole dish
- 1 yellow onion peeled and diced
- 6 cloves garlic peeled and minced
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper plus more to taste
- ½ teaspoon dry thyme
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 3 15-ounce cans crushed tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon sugar optional
A friend came over and I made risotto. He'd never had it or seen it prepared. He asked: How can restaurants manage/afford to serve that dish?
It's a good question and IDK the answer. Once you have your mise en place ready you STILL have to stand there and stir and add more broth, dicking around with it constantly for 20-25 min.
How does a restaurant kitchen manage that? I know they do somehow because I've ordered it before. Anybody know the answer?
I've discovered that I really enjoy making risotto, and it's pretty cheap. However, I'd like to add some sort of protein/meat to it to make it more filling. I'm not on a pancetta/fancy meats budget, regrettably... what would y'all recommend?
Edit: That's a lot of upvotes! I'm going with a rotisserie chicken to cut down on cook time, though these are all great options! If this is a picture-sharing subreddit, I might show it off ☺️
