Saffron Risotto

My Saffron Risotto recipe is a luxurious and delicious Italian classic from Milan, also known as Risotto alla Milanese. The beautiful golden color and fabulous aroma, and taste can’t be beaten.

This recipe is quite traditional. To be completely traditional, it would have the addition of bone marrow, but my father never added it, so I will do as he did.

About this recipe

This risotto is probably one of the first meals I learned. Not that it was taught to me as a lesson. Instead, as my father prepared and cooked this risotto, he would talk and tell me the dos and don’ts.

“Chop the onion very finely and cook gently until just ginger in oil and butter,” he would say in his broken English, interspersed with Italian words. “Ginger” meant light golden. Those were Dad’s words.

Short-grain white rice, such as arborio, is essential for this recipe and recipes like Arancini. Long-grain brown rice instead is better for salads such as my Brown Rice Salad.

He would instruct me to use good “brodo” or stock, which should be hot. And only add it one ladle at a time, stirring in between.

Toss the rice into the now softened onion and buttery oil.

In a small cup, he would mix the saffron with a ladle of hot stock, allowing it to steep.

Adding the golden saffron liquid to the partially cooked rice, which immediately took on an amazing color.

He would keep ladling in the hot stock and stirring, talking all the while. This is how I learned to cook by my father’s side – just as he did by his mother’s side.

I knew my father was a good cook. My goodness, his Saffron Risotto was fantastically good, which he always maintained was due to his delicious stock or “brodo”. But it wasn’t until he passed away a few years ago that we learned that his mother was a chef de cuisine. No wonder he knew his way around a kitchen.

What are the secrets to a good risotto?

Risotto is simple but delicious and best made with good stock. Making your own is easy if you follow my recipe. If you don’t make your own stock, please search for the best available, being careful about extra salty stock. Save your Parmesan rinds for risotto or ask at your deli where you buy your grated Parmesan. Taste as you go, checking that the rice is cooked through.

My father would say that the finished risotto should be “all onda” or like a wave, when you jiggle the pot. So if it is thick and dry, you need more hot liquid. Finally, my father would say, finish it with a “good knob of butter” and a handful of grated Parmesan cheese. Once the Saffron risotto is ready, call everyone to the table – “a tavola!” because risotto will wait for no one.

The gift of sharing recipes.

Saffron risotto is one of the recipes I have passed down to my own children, along with some other favorites like Chicken and Vodka Pasta and Chicken Spiedini. They have learned while hanging out in the kitchen with me. Risotto takes time, but in that time, you talk, learn, and most of all, create memories.

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