Risotto, they say it’s a story of sleight of hand. Elbow grease, in reality, or wrist grease, since you have to add broth and stir the rice throughout cooking. “It’s not just that, rectifies Oliver Piras, one of the two chefs of the starred restaurant Il Carpaccio, located inside the Royal Monceau Raffles in Paris. The important thing is first of all the quality of the rice, he says proudly showing his packet of riso cannelloni classico, insisting on the term “classico”. “That’s what allows him to stay al dente in all circumstances. »
Fats relegated to the end
The rice is therefore the important thing. “But not only, corrects in turn Alessandra del Favero, the other chef and also his wife: there are also fats that are added completely at the end. “A very cold dill butter that the couple adds at the very end of the cooking of the rice, when removing it from the heat. Then a pistachio sabayon and a dash of pesto that Alessandra adds at the end to the plates and which gives volume and pep to the dish.
In two paragraphs, you have just discovered the two main secrets of the risotto of Il Carpaccio. But there are others. Their rice is lightly toasted dry in the pan even before the broth gradually finds its way into it. This broth is made from a fish fumet made from the trimmings of those they prepare in the restaurant. We will remember that it takes twenty minutes of cooking, six minutes of rest during which they add the famous cold butter and parmesan so young and tender that it can be crumbled without being grated.
Unthinkable in Italy
Above all, the risotto that Oliver and Alessandra prepared for Taste of Paris is a unique dish. No tomato, no mushrooms, no basil here. But dill. “It’s a herb that no one would think of using for a risotto in Italy,” laughs Oliver Piras. But we like it and we find that dill goes very well with prawns. The latter are barely seared, tender and salty. They have seen no cooking water and are not even drowned in the sauce since they are added at the very end of preparation.