This risotto gives me a great reason to buy salami, which I dearly love, but rarely have in the house.
It’s far too moor-ish to have in the fridge on a regular basis. Both mon mari and I would be sneaking it for impromptu snacks and it would be quickly gone. As it is I kept this well-hidden until after I made the risotto.
I get small cans of beans, which give me just 1 cup. Use more if you have a larger quantity.
Flageolet are like small lima beans – use another small white bean or cannellini if you don’t find them.
Salami Risotto
Total time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
- 2/3 cup (4.2oz, 125gr) Arborio rice (or other rice specifically for risotto – Carnaroli or Vialone Nano)
- 1/2 cup (4oz, 120ml) dry, white wine
- 2 1/4 cups (18oz, 540ml) chicken stock
- 1/2 onion, chopped other half for the condimenti
- 2 tsp butter
- 1/2 cup (2oz, 60gr) Parmesan cheese – freshly grated
- Condimenti:
- 8 – 10 slices salami, 3oz (90gr)
- 1/2 onion, chopped
- 1 tomato
- 1 cup (7oz, 210gr) flageolet beans, lima beans or white beans, rinsed and drained
- 2 tsp olive oil
Instructions:
- Heat chicken stock and keep hot over low heat.
- In medium sauce pan heat butter; add 1/2 onion and sauté until transparent.
- Add rice and sauté, stirring, for 2 – 3 minutes until rice has white center.
- Add white wine and stir.
- Start condimenti.
- When rice has almost absorbed all the wine add a 1/3 cup of stock, stir. (No need to stir constantly but do stir from time to time.) When stock is almost absorbed add another 1/3 cup and continue adding 1/3 cup at a time and stirring.
- Before you add the last 1/3 cup taste a few kernels of rice. They should be just ‘al dente’ – slightly resistant to the tooth but fully cooked. If more stock is needed add it a few tbs at a time and waiting until almost completely absorbed.
- At this point risotto will be thick but not stiff – there will still be visible liquid and it will not hold it’s shape on a plate.
- Add the Parmesan and the condimenti, stir well, spoon into a bowl or risotto platter and serve immediately. It will continue to absorb liquid and the leftovers (if any) will be quite stiff.
- Condimenti
- While risotto is cooking, heat oil in small skillet.
- Add the rest of the onion and sauté until tender.
- Cut salami in half or quarters and add to onions.
- Roughly chop tomato and add to condimenti.
- Drain and rinse beans. Add to skillet and heat through.
- Keep warm until needed for risotto.
We had an interesting morning.
As usual, on Friday, we headed off to do the weekly shopping.
When we got to the round-a-bout near town that takes us to the LeClerc (supermarket) there was traffic backed up and a gendarme talking to the car at the head of the line.
Great, we thought…. Random paperwork check. Not a problem, just a bit tedious.
But the gendarmes usually wave the cars over, out of the way, rather than standing and blocking traffic.
Hmmm…..
We watched. He spent a minute or so talking to each car, then waved them on.
Curious.
When we reached him we said ‘Bonjour’.
He asked us where we we were going.
We said ‘LeClerc’.
He said ‘non….’
We thought he said ‘le bouchon’ which means cork or stopper, and is a term used for a traffic jam.
So, we would have to take a detour…. No problem. We headed off to LeClerc.
In retrospect he could have said ‘la bougie’ which means candle as there were bales of hay piled in the round-a-bout at the entrance to LeClerc. They were burning furiously and throwing up plumes of black smoke.
Ah, that’s the problem, we thought and drove around the back.
We couldn’t get into the parking lot. All the entrances we blocked by farm tractors.
The farmers were protesting…. That explained the burning hay bales.
Naturally, we did what the French were doing – went down a one way entrance the wrong way to get into the parking lot.
When we were done shopping I asked the cashier what the protest was about. It wasn’t a general protest, they were specifically targeting LeClerc because, in the opinion of the farmers, LeClerc was selling meat and milk too cheaply.
I’m sure they all, farmers and gendarmes, took a break for lunch, then finished the protest this afternoon.
They rarely last more than a day.
I love all white beans and I love salami too. I never ever buy it as I love it too much.
Last weekend when asked what he wanted to plant in the garden this summer my 3 year old Grandson replied “salami” and when he realised that was not a possibility, he decided upon a “red flower”. Vegetables are not an option as far as he is concerned!
I don’t dare buy salami without a purpose in mind for it and it has to be something within 24 hours of bringing it home. If I buy it for sandwiches or anything else where it isn’t all used at once, it’s eaten at once! It’s wonderful snack food (yes, I know, fattening and salty) but it doesn’t last in our house at all.
I think I’ll have to make this when I get home from the store. It’s the only way I’ll have enough salami to make it.
Kate, exactly the same here – on both counts.
Gill, if only we could grow salami….. life would be good lol
nightsmusic, but it’s so good! Once I opened it for the risotto the rest was gone in less than a day lol