Cooking Rice with an Italian Accent! (18 page)

VERMENTINO, INZOLIA/CATARATTO

 

Insalata Calda di Riso

(HOT RICE SALAD)

SERVES 4

You may serve this colorful and tantalizing salad as an appetizer or as a salad to accompany a main course of meat, poultry, or fish. It's superb.

1½ cups Arborio rice

3 cups water

3½ ounces pancetta or bacon, julienned

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 small peeled onion, minced

4 small heads radicchio, cut into halves and washed

1 ounce pitted black olives

1 6-ounce can corn niblets, drained

1 dash Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Cook the rice in a large saucepan in three cups of water, uncovered, for eighteen minutes. Pour into colander, drain and run cold water over it to stop its cooking. Leave in colander. Fry the pancetta in a deep skillet in olive oil on moderate heat for five minutes. Add onion, cook another five minutes. Add the radicchio, olives, and corn. Add Worcestershire sauce and black pepper. Cook for five minutes. Add cooked rice and mix well. Heat for five more minutes. Pour into a deep, warm serving bowl and bring to table.

RECOMMENDED WINES:

RIBOLLA GIALLA, TOCAI FRIULANO

 

Insalata di Riso allo Zafferano

(SAFFRON RICE SALAD)

SERVES 4

This is an unusually tasty salad that's perfect for a balmy summer night's supper. Make it in the morning then refrigerate it (covered with plastic wrap of course). Remove it from the refrigerator one hour before supper to allow it to come to room temperature. If your house is air-conditioned, set it out on your porch or picnic table for one hour, no longer. The cream can spoil.

6 tablespoons olive oil

3 zucchini, unpeeled and sliced into thin rounds

2 red bell peppers, pithed, seeded, and julienned

4 cups water salted with 1 teaspoon salt

2 cups long-grain rice

2 small packages saffron (0.8 gram)

½ cup boiling hot chicken stock

½ cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon cognac

Salt and pepper to taste

In a large skillet, sauté zucchini rounds in 2 tablespoons of olive oil on moderate heat until lightly browned on both sides. Empty contents of skillet (zucchini and oil) into a bowl. Set aside. In same skillet, sauté julienned red peppers in 2 tablespoons of olive oil on moderate heat until lightly browned. Empty contents into same bowl containing zucchini. Meanwhile, bring water to boil, add rice, adjust heat to low, cover and simmer for twenty minutes. Pour rice into colander and rinse with cold water. Allow to drain well. Pour drained rice into large salad bowl. Dissolve saffron in ½ cup hot chicken broth. Pour into rice and mix well. Beat cream until it begins to thicken. Still beating, add last 2 tablespoons of olive oil and cognac. Beat for two more minutes. Dress salad with this cream dressing. Season with salt and pepper. Add cooked zucchini and peppers with their oil. Stir vigorously. Serve it immediately, or follow suggestions in the introduction to this recipe. This is very special.

RECOMMENDED WINES:

DOLCETTO, PINOT NOIR/NERO

 

Insalata di Riso con Salsa di Tonno e Capperi

(RICE SALAD WITH TUNA AND CAPER DRESSING)

SERVES 4

This is a very tasty way of preparing a cold rice salad. It is perfect for a warm summer evening's light supper. I was very pleased when I tasted it at the house of Giovanna Maisano (my mother's niece) in Reggio Calabria one sultry August evening.

4 quarts water with 1 teaspoon salt

15 ounces long-grain rice

1 cup fresh flat leaf parsley

¼ small onion

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Salt and pepper to taste

1 6-ounce can tuna packed in olive oil, flaked

1 pint plain yogurt

1 hard-boiled egg, quartered

4 heaping tablespoons mayonnaise, regular or low-fat

2 tablespoons small capers, drained

½ cup whipped heavy cream (plain cream with no sugar)

Bring water to boil. Stir in rice, return to boil, and cook uncovered for twenty minutes. Drain in colander. Rinse with cold water and allow to drain and cool completely in colander. Meanwhile, in bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, process ½ cup of parsley, the onion, olive oil, lemon juice, and salt and pepper until smooth. Empty into a bowl. In the same food processor bowl fitted with steel blade, place tuna, yogurt, hard-boiled egg, mayonnaise and 1 tablespoon of capers and process until smooth. Add half of the reserved onion, oil, and lemon juice dressing. Process for another minute. Transfer to another bowl and hand mix the other half of reserved onion, oil, and lemon dressing. Fold in whipped cream. Mix this dressing with the cold rice in a large bowl. Stir in the remaining tablespoon of capers. Pile onto a serving platter and shape into a little mountain. Either serve immediately or refrigerate, covered with plastic wrap for later use.

RECOMMENDED WINES:

VERMENTINO, FALANGHINA

Dolci (Desserts)

Although Italian regional cuisines offer some delicious cakes, pies, cookies, pastries, and
dolci al cucchiaio
(desserts eaten with a spoon), the favorite Italian way to finish a meal is with fresh fruit in season.

This section contains a few Italian desserts that are all based on rice.

If you wish to serve wine with these desserts, we recommend Martini & Rossi Asti Spumante.

 

Budino di Riso al Cioccolato

(CHOCOLATE RICE PUDDING)

SERVES 8

This is not like any rice pudding I've ever tasted. It is sumptuously delicious and pleasing to the palate. But it must be made at least four hours in advance. I was visiting the beautiful city of Vicenza and stopped in a confectionery shop to pick up a dessert for my hosts. This pudding caught my eye and I looked no further. My hosts were pleased with my little gift. But when espresso was served, a servant brought out an identical pudding my hostess had made. This is Signora deAngelis' recipe.

1½ quarts whole milk

½ cup sugar

Zest of 2 lemons

15 ounces long-grain rice

3 tablespoons butter

1 pint heavy cream

¼ cup cognac

1 cup of sultana raisins, soaked in warm water ½ hour then drained

10 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted in ¼ cup milk on low heat in double boiler pot

Before starting the budino, put an empty pudding mold on ice. Boil milk in a saucepan. Add sugar, lemon zest, and rice. Stir on low heat until rice has absorbed all the milk. Remove from heat and stir in butter vigorously. Allow to cool. Whip cream until very stiff. Fold whipped cream into rice pudding. Add cognac and sultana raisins. Stir well. Refrigerate for half hour, then spoon into a very cold pudding mold. Refrigerate for three hours. Unmold onto a serving dish and pour melted hot chocolate over it. Serve immediately.

 

Budino di Riso alle Mandorle

(ALMOND AND RICE PUDDING)

SERVES 6

When I was in Agrigento, Sicily, early one February and walking the road in the Valley of the Temples, I noticed a sweet fragrance in the air. It was the trees in full blossom lining the roadway. I was informed that they were almond trees. Later that evening, at Kaos, my hotel, this Budino a Mennuli was served for dessert. So from the hotel Kaos in Agrigento, the kitchen staff is saying
scialatevi
(enjoy yourselves!).

1 quart whole milk

2 tablespoons sugar

Grated zest of 1 lemon

10 ounces long-grain rice

½ pint heavy cream, whipped until stiff

1 tablespoon melted butter

1 shot glass cognac

1½ ounces raisins, plumped in warm water ½ hour, drained and dried

4 tablespoons almonds toasted on a cookie sheet for 10 minutes at 400°, cooled and coarsely chopped

1 tablespoon butter

7 ounces bittersweet chocolate

Place milk, sugar, and grated lemon rind in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Add rice, lower heat to simmer, and cook, stirring constantly, until the rice has absorbed all the milk. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature. Fold in whipped cream. Add brandy (cognac), melted butter, raisins, and chopped almonds. Mix well. Grease a bundt pan with butter. Pack in rice pudding. Refrigerate for three hours. Remove from refrigerator and dip pan in hot water ¾ the way up. Invert onto a serving plate. For topping, melt bittersweet chocolate in double boiler or microwave oven. Pour melted chocolate over pudding and serve immediately.

 

Dolce di Riso e Mandarini

(BAKED RICE AND TANGERINE DESSERT)

SERVES 6

Yes, this is a complicated recipe that will take approximately 1½ hours of your time. Make it for a special occassion, such as a significant birthday or anniversary. Your loved ones will appreciate you even more.

1 quart whole milk

1 vanilla pod, cut in half, or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

6 large, juicy tangerines, peeled, sectioned, seeded, and trimmed

2 shot glasses Grand Marnier liqueur

2 tablespoons honey

2 egg yolks

4 tablespoons sugar

9 ounces long-grain rice

2 tablespoons butter, plus 1 tablespoon to grease bundt cake pan

20 sugar cubes

2 tablespoons water

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon butter

6 candied cherries

6 fresh mint leaves

Preheat oven to 400°. In a saucepan, put the milk and vanilla on to boil. Lower heat and simmer.

Place sections of 4 tangerines into food blender, with the Grand Marnier liqueur and honey. Blend for one minute. In another saucepan, beat the egg yolks with the sugar until creamy and stir in, little by little, the hot milk, discard vanilla pods, and beat with the hand mixer. Turn heat to moderate and cook until the cream becomes thick (about five minutes). Add rice, always stirring. Cook, stirring, for fifteen minutes over moderate heat. Add butter and finally the liquified tangerines. Mix vigorously during the last five minutes of cooking.

Pour into buttered bundt baking pan, being careful to fill it only ¾ up the pan. Place in another pan filled with water ¾ of the way up the bundt pan. Place pans in oven and bake for twenty minutes. Remove from oven and allow to come to room temperature (about fifteen minutes).

Loosen the edges with a butter knife, going all the way down to the bottom of the pan. Invert on a round serving dish.

Now prepare the caramel glaze: Mix 20 sugar cubes, 2 tablespoons of water, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, and 1 teaspoon of butter in a small saucepan on moderate heat until golden brown. Garnish with more tangerine sections. Pour caramel glaze over the pudding. Garnish with 6 candied cherries, indicating where you will slice. Place mint leaves in center. Bring to table, cut, and serve. Magnificent!

 

Budino di Crema di Riso