Our experience with Milan is a little like Stanley Tucci’s before he started shooting the Searching for Italy series now running on CNN. It was always a place we admired from afar and but visited mostly when we were changing trains or planes. For many years, Alitalia had direct flights between Boston and Milan, so we often flew through Malpensa when we were visiting northern Italy. As Tucci observed, the first thing that hit us about Milan is the pace. The city has a hurry-scurry that almost makes Manhattan feel laid-back.
That’s probably because the Milanese are so busy making money. The city is home to the Italian stock market, the furniture industry, and to Italian fashion and design. It helps to have all that lucre when you acquire the saffron so essential to making risotto alla milanese. It’s ironic that the signature golden, creamy, cheese-infused rice dish of bustling Milan requires that you stand in one place, stirring the whole time it cooks.
The golden hue—and the haunting scent—of risotto alla milanese comes from saffron, introduced to Italy along with the rounded toothy rice during the Arab invasions more than a millennium ago. Three areas within Italy famously grow saffron: the island of Sardinia, San Gimignano in Tuscany, and the village of L’Aquila in Abruzzo. The fall-blooming saffron crocus only bears three stigmas per bloom, so it takes around 200 flowers to produce a single gram of saffron.
In the U.S., we’ve found Vanilla Saffron Imports (saffron.com) to have the best balance of quality and price. We buy in bulk, which means we can treat ourselves to Milan’s signature rice dish whenever we’re pressed for time. You might have to stand in front of the stove—but it only takes 20 minutes.
RISOTTO ALLA MILANESE
There are many variants of the classic recipe, though all call for roughly three parts (or a little more) hot liquid to one part rice. How much of the liquid is chicken stock (or sometimes veal stock) and how much is white wine depends on the cook. We prefer to save more wine for drinking with dinner. A risotto this straightforward needs a perfect texture. The Italians call it all’onda or ‶like a wave.″ Each grain of rice must be individual but the whole dish should roll like the sea when you shake the pot.
INGREDIENTS
5 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
sea salt
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
pinch of saffron threads (right)
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley
DIRECTIONS
Bring the stock to a simmer in a medium saucepan and cover to keep warm.
In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil and add the onion. Season with a little salt and cook, stirring, until the onion softens (about 5 minutes). Add the rice and stir well to coat all the grains. Crumble saffron into pot and add wine. Stirring constantly, cook until wine is absorbed. Add a cup of warm stock and cook while stirring until absorbed. Repeat with a half cup of stock, again stirring until absorbed. Continue adding stock a half cup at a time. The risotto is done when the rice is al dente but enrobed in a thick and creamy sauce. The whole process should around 20 minutes.
Stir in the cheese and butter and serve garnished with chopped parsley. The version at the top of this post was presented at Il Pellicano restaurant (hotelilpellicano.com) in Porto Ercole on Tuscany’s west coast. The chef garnished with a dollop of crème fraiche and caviar and a sprinkle of minced chives.