With its creamy, velvety texture, risotto is to rice what mashed potatoes are to the common spud. The dish, made with rice simmered in broth, can be flavored with anything from cheeses to meats to vegetables to satisfy any set of taste buds. Risotto preparation requires intense attention to detail if the timing is off or if the incorrect rice is used, the result can be a tasteless mush. When prepared correctly, the dish is elegant and upscale while being comforting and nourishing, says Kim Park, director of consumer education for the Houston-based USA Rice Federation. It just makes you feel good after you eat it, she says.
Molive restaurant agrees.
There s something about the creamy rice dish. It s comforting to me, says Hosmer, who regularly features risotto on the menu of his American-style bistro. Risotto, which means little rice in Italian, is believed to have gained popularity in 19th-century Northern Italy. The region s Po River Valley produces short-grain, starchy rices such as arborio rice that are perfect for risotto. Each grain has a translucent, starchy shell and hard, opaque inner core.