Creamy chestnut risotto

Creamy chestnut risotto

Wake up your taste buds with a simple, homemade risotto with taleggio, a wonderfully creamy Italian cheese, and chestnuts, the main character of this dish. It’s autumn in a plate, it’s my favourite comfort food.

First things first, you might think this is quite a difficult dish or it has ingredients tricky to find. Don’t threat. Taleggio cheese is now easy to find even in the UK, but if you really struggle to find it, just use gorgonzola or camembert instead. The taste of your risotto will be less delicate but so indulgently creamy. Let’s talk about chestnuts – you won’t need to worry about cooking them first (although check this out this quick and easy recipe). Buy them already cooked, as you’d do for stuffing, so you can make this risotto in no time!

Things got quite hectic recently. We might be soon move house! It’s all very up in the air at the moment, so talking about it seems quite dangerous…but we are all allowed to dream and it’s all about positive manifesting. We’ll get the house, works and moving in will go well, all will be fine.

Keep your fingers crossed, light candles, pray for me, join me in hoping for the best!

Making this risotto, chopping the chestnuts, watching the broth bubble, stirring in the cheese feels such a treat. A much-needed pause in such frantic time. Taking it slowly, before starting to run again.

We have been looking to buy a house for quite a while now, saving all we could, and looking all around London.

It really feels unreal that we might have finally found something. I dream of a bright kitchen, a small garden and even that small closet to messily stuff all random things like Monica in Friends.

The risotto is now ready so no more time to talk. Risotto must be eaten immediately, savouring that first spoon in religious silence.

This recipe is a keeper and hope it will also give you a moment of peace.

Want to make a chestnut-themed dinner? Check out my mouth-watering vegan Wellington.

Creamy chestnut risotto

Course: MainsDifficulty: Medium
Servings

2

big servings
Prep time

3

minutes
Cooking time

19

minutes

Wake up your taste buds with a simple, homemade risotto with taleggio, a wonderfully creamy Italian cheese, and chestnuts, the main character of this dish. It’s autumn in a plate, it’s my favourite comfort food.

Ingredients

  • 3 spoons of extra-virgin olive oil

  • 1 big white onion

  • 320 g carnaroli or arborio rice

  • A glass of white wine

  • 1 tbsp of grounded sage or rosemary*

  • 1.5 l vegetable broth

  • 2 glass of warm milk

  • 100 g taleggio cheese

  • 180 g pre-cooked chestnuts

  • 50 g grated parmesan cheese

Method

  • Chop the chestnuts and leave 8 whole chestnuts aside for decoration.
  • Chop the onion very finely (this is the first secret of a good risotto: avoid huge chunks of onions, the onion need to be almost minced and you won’t even be able to distinguish the veggie in the final dish). Brown them from 5 minutes with 3 spoons of extra-virgin olive oil
  • Add in the rice and toast it for 2 minutes over high heat. You know it’s ready when it becomes translucent. (second top tip!)
  • Pour the wine in and let it evaporate over high heat (around 2 mins)
  • Now add sage leaves and the broth, one ladle at the time, be patient. Stir in and let it simmer over low heat for around 5 mins. Don’t rush this step for a perfect risotto (3rd tip!)
  • Your risotto will now be half cooked, add the chopped chestnuts, warm milk and remaining broth. Cook for  around 5 more minutes.
  • Turn off the heat and stir in the taleggio cheese.
  • Serve immediately and decorate with the whole chestnuts. If you are greedy like me, you can grate parmesan cheese on top or add a cube of taleggio cheese in the middle. Enjoy Autumn on a plate!

Notes

  • *I am lucky enough to have been gifted grounded sage leaves. It is a fine powder and it adds so much taste to any dish. I am aware this is a peculiar ingredient and if you can’t find it, just add whole sage leaves or rosemary leaves to the risotto while cooking and remove them before serving.

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