Meat-Based Risotto

Beet greens and sausages are a delightful combination, but need something to provide body, and rice is just about perfect! In short, we have comfort food here. No beet greens? Use spinach.

True wild boar is remarkably tasty, but does require marinading. If you use commercially raised boar, you will still want to marinade, but for not as long. Also, expect this dish to be a deep bluish red, because the blueberries and wine will die everything. In short, wild boar risotto is a tasty outdoorsy fall dish.

To be precise, capriolo is roe buck, but this recipe will work well with any sort of furred game, from venison through hare. It will also work well with kid. The combination of fruit and meat is fairly traditional, and was once more common in Italian dishes than it is now. But it is nice.

Duck is rather gamy, and also is fairly rich. Raspberries, with their bright fruit flavor and acidity, are a perfect complement to duck. This dusk risotto will be perfect for an elegant meal, and also is well suited to romantic occasions.

The combination of fresh -- not dried -- prunes, with their sweetness and acidity, nicely balances the richness of pancetta. You could also use tart plums here, though I don't think sweeter fruit along the lines of Regina Claudia plums would work as well. This recipe will also be nice for a romantic occasion.

This rice and beans is classic country food from Novara, in Northern Piemonte, and though it does to somewhat resemble the panissa made in nearby Vercelli, it contains many more vegetables.

Depending upon where you are, Panissa can be different things. In Liguria it's a chickpea puree. In northern Piemonte, on the other hand, it's a peasant dish made with rice and beans, which is quite rich and can work well as a one-course meal.

I have always enjoyed the combination of apples and sausages, usually at breakfast. Here we instead have them subsequently, in a tasty and slightly unusual apple and sausage risotto.

Boiled beef used to be one of the most common meats on the Italian table, both because the cuts are cheap and because it's a byproduct of making broth. Consequently, ways to put it to use were (and are) always welcome. This is a tasty risotto that will be nice as a one-course family meal.

Many Valentine's Day menus call for fish, especially shrimp. Not partial to it, or allergic to it? This sensual lamb risotto will be both tasty and a little unusual -- the perfect dish to serve in a romantic occasion, or an elegant meal.

This is a light recipe that one could serve as a first course in a traditional Italian meal. It will also be a good centerpiece for a light lunch, if accompanied by a crisp salad. A wine? White, for example a Tocai Friulano.

The combination of rice and lentils works very well, and both are a perfect foil for pancetta. In short, winter comfort food.

Curried Risotto with Veal, or Risotto al Curry con la Vitella: Risotto is one of the most versatile dishes, and the variations are endless. This will work quite nicely as a light lunch if served with a with a tossed salad. In terms of a wine, I would drink a Vermentino dei Colli di Luni, a white wine from Tuscany and Liguria.

Quail with Rice, or Quaglie Col Riso: this recipe is typical of Romagna, and will also work with other kinds of birds, for example cornish game hens (or even small ducks), if you prefer. It's drawn from The Art of Eating Well (Random House, 1996), my translation of Pellegrino Artusi's La Scienza in Cucina e L'Arte di Mangiar Bene, the first truly successful Italian cookbook.

Overpowered Risotto, or Risotto Soffocato: This is a Sardinian recipe, and to be frank I'm not sure why it's Soffocato -- perhaps because the rice is overcome by the meat and the tomatoes? If so, the result is certainly to our benefit.

Risotto with Coot -- Risotto con le Folaghe: This is a recipe from la bassa Ferrarese, the wetlands around the city of Ferrara in Emilia Romagna, and it's therefore not that surprising that it should feature coots, which are water fowl. They're quite flavorful, but do require care in preparation: Since they're bottom feeders their subcutaneous fat tends to have a muddy, gamy flavor, and in preparing them you should therefore skin them and trim away all traces of fat.

Risotto with Chicken, or Risotto Con il Pollo: This is a classic recipe from Emilia Romagna; Alessandro Molinari Pradelli says it's from Modena, in Emilia, and the inclusion of a dash of balsamic vinegar supports his assertian. However, Pellegrino Artusi gives a very similar recipe without balsamic vinegar, and says his derived from a trip to Romagna. So you can make the Modenese version, with balsamic vinegar, or a more generic Emilia Romagnan version without. Either will be good.

Risotto Ko-Samui, or Ko-Samui Risotto: This is a creation of Gabriele Ferron, whose Antica Riseria Ferron is one of the most important producers of Vialone Nano rice; in addition to growing rice Gabriele is a tireless advocate of Vialone Nano and North Italian rice cookery in general, traveling all over the world to give demonstrations and host dinners.

Riso e Luganeghe -- -- Rice with Luganega Sausages

Milner's Risotto, or Risotto alla Pilota: The pilota is the person who works the pila, or rice mill, in the countryside around Verona, and since the job is physically demanding, the risotto is substantial.

Risotto with Tastasal, or Risotto col Tastasal: This is another mainstay of the rice-producing areas of the Veneto, and is, by comparison with some creamy risotti, rather odd -- tastasal is the stuffing used to make salami, and indeed the housewives of the Bassa Veronese would make it to judge the seasoning of their salami before putting the filling into the casing.

Risotto Isolana Style, or Risotto All'Isolana: This is from Isola della Scala, the heart of Verona's rice-growing district, and a very pretty area to visit, where you can still find the traditional waterwheel-driven mills used to separate the rice from the chaff. The best time to visit in is the fall, when there are festivals to celebrate the harvest. As with all traditional favorites, there are many variations to this recipe, and many cooks add secret ingredients.

A Chicken Risotto: This is an old recipe; Pellegrino Artusi tells of being served something quite similar at the end of a long drive through the country more than a century ago, by an innkeeper who had just killed a brace of chickens when they arrived, and offered to whip something together. It will work quite nicely as a one-course meal, with a salad, and a zesty red wine, for example a Bardolino or a Chianti d'Annata. A good Lambrusco, for example Ermete Medici's Concerto, would also be nice.

Risotto Mantova Style: I'm not sure why a risotto made with sausages is alla Mantovana. The recipe calls for Mantovan sausages; in their absence substitute mild Italian sausages, not the more spicy variety.

A simple, tasty winter dish that will be quite nice with Lambrusco -- a good choice since the acidity of the wine will contrast nicely with the fat from the sausage.

Rice salad is one of those classic summer dishes that varies greatly from cook too cook; I have made it especially rich to give an idea of what can go into it. Feel free to tone it down or substitute other things to your taste.

The bitterness of radicchio blends enticingly with lemony acidity to make a very happy dish.

Interesting, and will be a full meal (with a salad).

Another recipe that will make a meal (with a salad); I'd reduce the garlic, but it looks nice.

A nice looking recipe that will make a meal with a salad.