Risotto Tartufo

I'm sure this recipe has been made tens of thousands of times considering the ingredients, but I put it together for the first time when looking through the pantry for ideas. It should be measured against a published recipe for the fun of it. Once you know how to make a risotto, you really don't need recipes, just add new ingredients to the basics of rice, broth, onion and cheese.


Ingredients:

1 1/2C arborio rice
4C chicken or mushroom broth (for a vegetarian version)
2T truffle paste or 1T minced black truffle
1 large yellow onion
1 1/4C grated parmigiano
extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

Fine dice the onion and saute in olive oil over a medium flame in a wide bottomed pan. As soon as the onions soften, add the rice and saute until you see the characteristic opaque white look of sauteed rice, then add a cup of the stock. Traditionally you should heat the stock, but I seldom do that and still come up with a good result. As the stock absorbs into the rice, add more stock.

After the first 2 cups of stock are absorbed into the rice, add half of the truffle paste, stir to incorporate and then add the 3rd cup of stock. I don't know if adding the truffle at this time gave the risotto a stronger truffle taste or not, so next time I may experiment and delay in adding the truffle just to see what happens.

After adding the last cup of stock, stir it until it is almost fully absorbed and add the last of the truffle or truffle paste, taking the pot off the heat. The grated parmigiano should be added and stirred in now. Place a lid on the pan and rest 5 minutes before serving.