Just made a risotto for the first time and its really bland...what can I add to make it tastier

[ladytophamhatt]

Chicken, mushroom, onions already in.

White wine is far from compulsory - especially when using mushrooms or any other ingredient that soaks up the wine. If you use wine in cooking it must evaporate, but the mushrooms soak it up, and then it carries on cooking with the rice - yuck.

Pancetta is fine with a mushroom risotto. Chicken is just weird in risotto - but if you have to use it, add it (cooked and chopped) right at the end.

no wine is not compulsory,..it is authentic though. chicken isn't!

Wine is not authentic with mushrooms, for the reason I give. Just imagine using some really lovely fresh porcini (that would give the risotto an amazing scent) or even truffles - if you put wine on them, all the flavour would be drowned out as the wine was absorbed by the mushrooms, that would end up tasting of boiled wine.

Same with linguine alle vongole (or any pasta with seafood) - white wine is a big mistake, as it drowns the delicate flavour.

I agree that you need to evaporate the wine - should be added just after the onions have browned and evaporated before you add the rice

Don't you put the mushrooms in later? I cook the onion, then rice, then white wine, and the muchrooms cooked separately later on.

Quattrocento - you need some risotto lessons, my girl

The onions should never brown - they should be cooked slowly until translucent. And any wine should be added and evaporated only after you have done the stage called "tostare il riso" when you add the rice to the onion and fat and absolutely no liquid should be in the pan.

Habbibu - if you have to use white wine with mushrooms, yes, then that's how you have to do it.

Better not to use wine and to let the mushrooms flavour the risotto...

Depends if you have nice mushrooms to hand, Anna. Sometimes the midweek dinner risotto doesn't have the finest specimens of fungi

Stock cubes will lift it.

When I said brown I meant translucent - and I think the wine should be added then rather than after the rice or it gives too strong a taste

Unless of course you are making a red wine risotto in which case that's what it's all about

anna's right, quattro... she is you know... the whole thing about arborio or other risotto rices is that they must be cooked for a while in the oil, it's what transforms them from plain rice to little pearls of perfection. then stock and wine, whatever. i keep heels of parmesan rind and whack them in for umami.

Habbinbu - if you keep some dried porcini in your store cupboard, you can reconstitute a few and use a mixture of dried porcini and some normal button mushrooms for your midweek risotto and you'll get a better flavour . Here in France you can buy frozen cèpes (porcini) and girolles, and they make a reasonably scented risotto too (though still nothing like the fresh autumn cèpes or - even better - the truffles that are around at this time of year here in the street markets).

When you've soaked the porcini for an hour, you can sieve the water they've soaked in and add it to the stock you are using for extra mushroom flavour.

I use parmesan, and cream, right at the end before serving.

I do that translucent rice thing too like anna describes, then pour some wine in, let it bubble up and evaporate before adding stock.

Anna - you cheeky minx - just looking up what to do with left over roast chicken and find you on another thread positively advocating chicken risotto. ...

What I advocate depends on the poster, Habbibu

Actually, I just cooked up a pot of stock from two leftover roast chickens and will make risotto with the stock . Personally I think that adding the chicken meat into the risotto isn't particularly gourmet, but it's a decent cheap meal.

What I don't really understand about the OP is when/where it was combined into the rice - my understanding (from limited info) was that it was added before the end, perhaps uncooked, which sounded very odd, but maybe my understanding is wrong.

Anyway, will just make a risotto alla milanese with some bone marrow and saffron tonight. Think it's my all time favourite.

Have never used bone marrow, but find the idea very appealing. May have to talk to the butcher...

Bone marrow is great with milanese or any barely flavoured risotto - you don't need much. Here in Paris they sell bits of marrow bone for about 1 euro in the supermarket but have never seen them in the supermarket in the UK.

But you don't want to use bone marrow if you are using delicately flavoured things like asparagus as it drowns out the scent.

have they banned it since mad cow disease? i've a feeling they have.

Risotto without parmesan is not risotto - It is just a rice dish - it is an essential ingredient.

Agreed, Lazycow - fat, rice, stock and parmesan are the essentials without which a risotto is not a risotto.

at my crap chef-ness

it was nice though....

LadyTH - the risotto technique is actually very difficult to master. It takes lots of practice (as well as, and on top of, a good recipe and method ).

The real beauty of risotto is that once you have mastered the technique, there are literally 100s of permutations. So you can endlessly vary the menu

Actually LTH, Anna is talking utter rubbish there,...it's not a difficult technique ...it's bloody easy, for everyone, even novice cooks. just use the best ingredients you can, make sure your pan and stock is hot, fry your rice in the butter/ leeks/ onions so it's nice and translucent and keep stirring