Leek Risotto

Name: Leek Risotto Recipe with Arborio Rice and Parmesan
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 45 min
Cuisine: Italian cuisine
Ingredients: Arborio rice 200 g; Broth (chicken or vegetable) 0.8–1 l; Leek 0.5 white part; Parmesan 50 g; Dry white wine 50 ml; Butter 30 g; Salt 4–5 g; Black pepper, herbs to taste

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45 mins

It is hard to say whether there is a cuisine in the world that has no onions in its recipes. The onion has been known since ancient times, that is, forever, as a friend of mine once said. And risotto with leeks and risotto with mushrooms are especially popular in the land of the rising sun.

The botanical name of the onion, allium, was given by Carl Linnaeus, the Swedish naturalist and physician who created the unified system of the plant and animal world. The word is related to the ancient Celtic word all, meaning burning. The onion genus counts about 900 species, and a large share of them grow wild.

One of the cultivated members of the genus is the leek (Allium porrum), a herbaceous plant sometimes called the “pearl onion”. It comes from Asia and then spread to the Mediterranean, where a wild variety still grows. The leek was known to the ancient Egyptians, who grew it as an important crop.

Making risotto with leeks is easy. You need Italian rice with a high starch content, such as Arborio or Carnaroli. You need leeks and a few spices. And of course the ubiquitous Parmesan, which is added to everything except, perhaps, compote. Leeks are delicious, and recipes with them always take root in the kitchen. How to make risotto so that the rice is creamy rather than overcooked, I explain in the recipe for vegetable risotto. A simple everyday option is onion risotto. In the same series I also have Venetian-style risotto.

Ingredients

2 servings

Arborio rice 200 g
Broth (chicken or vegetable) 0.8–1 l
Leek 0.5 white part
Parmesan 50 g
Dry white wine 50 ml
Butter 30 g
Salt 4–5 g
Black pepper, herbs to taste

Step-by-step recipe

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Leek and rice

Prepare the leek: remove the outer layer, which usually dries out, and cut off the green part, leaving only the white “stalk”. Slice the stalk crosswise into rounds no more than 5 mm thick.

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Fry the leek in the butter until it is soft and just starts to turn golden.
Season the leek with salt and pepper. Add the Italian rice and fry until it starts to take on a pearly shade at the edges and turns slightly translucent.

Cooking the risotto

Arborio rice absorbs liquid intensively. Chicken or vegetable broth is usually added to risotto. Quite often, though, even original recipes recommend making the broth from a bouillon cube. I stop reading such recipes right there. If you cannot use broth, it is better to add plain boiling water. Still, boiling a carrot, an onion, a parsley root, celery root and a potato in water beforehand is not difficult.

Add a quarter cup (50 ml) of dry white wine. Stir, cover with a lid and turn the heat down. Leave the rice and leek to simmer gently: the liquid should barely bubble.

Cook the risotto, adding the broth in small portions. An important point: the broth added to the risotto must be hot. Add each next portion only when the previous one has been absorbed.
Bring the rice to doneness. Usually 1 cup of Arborio takes about 3 cups of liquid (600 ml). There is enough liquid when the rice is almost done, soft but still keeping a barely noticeable firmness, a little bite, and the rice with leek has a consistency like very thick honey.

Serving

Sprinkle the rice and leek with grated Parmesan and herbs and stir.
Divide it among plates right away and serve.

Calories and macros

755 kcal

Serving ≈ 380 g

Protein28 g15% of kcal
Fat25 g30% of kcal
Carbs100 g55% of kcal

100 g198 kcalProtein 7.2 gFat 6.5 gCarbs 26.2 g

Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.

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