Gram's Risotta and Torta Frita

Hello Everyone

When I was growing up, risotto was never made with creamy and delicious Arborio (1) rice. My mother adopted a recipe of my grandmother‚s that used long grain rice (Uncle Ben's). It became a staple at our family dinner table. This version is a little easier to make, is not at all creamy but is still absolutely delicious and tastes just like my childhood.

Another favorite Gram recipe was torta frita (fried dough). She would always make it for me every time I stayed with her for the weekend. I am not sure if my grandmother ever owned a rolling pin because she would always use a bottle of wine or a ginger ale bottle to roll out her dough. She was wonderful and I miss her dearly.

So this Saturday, I cooked Gram‚s risotto and torta frita for a group of friends. Some minor adjustments were made to the recipes but for the most part they were as original and tasted just like mom and gram used to make.

I hope you enjoy this week‚s RecipePhile and please let me know how your food turns out.

Have a great week.

Michael
"Always remember that food is about more than eating...it is about thinking, buying, preparing, enjoying and most importantly... sharing."

Gram‚'s Risotto
My grandmother and my mother both used ground beef in this recipe but I thought I would try it with veal instead. Veal and beef would be the only two meats I would use with this recipe, but you can do just about anything with risotto and not really mess it up. So be creative and if you are a vegetarian you can substitute vegetable broth for the chicken broth and obviously eliminate the meat!

2 cups of rice
2 tbsp butter
3 tbsp olive oil
1 pound of ground veal
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup chopped yellow onion (about half of a medium onion)
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 1/2 cups chopped crimini mushrooms
4 cans of Chicken Broth
Grated Parmaggiano Reggiano cheese
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Pour your chicken broth into a pot and turn on low heat. Sautee the garlic in the olive oil over medium heat for about one minute, making sure that the garlic does not burn. Add the onions, sauté until translucent and then add the mushrooms and cook until tender. Remove the mixture and replace with the ground veal. Brown the veal, add the onion/garlic/mushroom mixture back into the sauté pan and toss well. Set aside. Melt the butter in a sauté pan, add the rice and mix well until the rice is completely coated with the butter. Sauté over medium heat for about a minute or two. Now begin ladling the heated chicken broth into the pan and mix until the rice has almost absorbed the chicken broth. Keep doing this while continually stirring the rice until your broth is gone and the rice has cooked through. This will take about one half of an hour. Add the meat mixture, some kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste and stir well. Top with the Reggiano cheese and serve.

Torta Frita
Just about any pizza dough recipe will work with this. I added some dried rosemary to give these wonderfully tasty fried dough balls a little extra flavor but you can use just about any herb or no herb at all. Be liberal with the salt, the saltier the better.

1 package of active dry yeast or 1/3 cake of fresh yeast
1 1/4 cups lukewarm water
3 cups unbleached (2) all-purpose flour
3 tbsp dried rosemary
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
Olive oil

In a large mixing bowl dissolve the yeast in 1/2 cup of the lukewarm water. Let it proof for 10 minutes. Add the flour, salt, 1 tbsp olive oil, and rosemary and remaining water. Mix well and knead until the dough is smooth, about 10 minutes. Let rise until the dough has doubled in size (about one hour), punch down the dough and let it rest for another 10 minutes. Roll out the dough with a wine bottle until it is pretty thin, maybe about a quarter of an inch in height and cut into 3 or 4-inch squares. Heat about 2 cups of olive oil in a sauté pan over medium heat and fry up the pieces of dough until golden brown. It is best to turn and remove the puffy dough pieces with tongs and make sure you salt them as they come out of pan. Place on a paper towel to help absorb the grease, let cool and serve.

FoodNoteworthies

(1) Arborio Rice - Arborio rice, a pearly-looking, round, fat, Italian white rice, forms the foundation of risotto. Like other rices, Arborio is a member of the grass family. What distinguishes it is a higher than normal amount of soluble starch that is released during cooking. The starch is what makes a risotto creamy. Arborio rice takes about eighteen minutes to cook. It is done when it is al dente, tender on the outside and firm in the center.

(2) Unbleached and Bleached Flour - The nutritional value of bleached flour is the same as unbleached flour. Enriched flour of either type contributes carbohydrates, protein and several other important nutrients. According to a Technical Service Manager of Gold Medal Flour, the term "bleaching" is a traditional milling industry term that refers to the whitening of flour. Because freshly milled flour may not make consistently high- quality baked products, it is stored for several months for slow natural air oxidation to occur. Oxidation produces whiter flour and results in products with a finer texture and improved baking quality. Food technologists devised chemical methods to quickly whiten flour and improve baking performance. No trace elements from the bleaching process remains in the final product.