Ingredients for 4 people

• 320 g Carnaroli or Vialone Nano rice;
• 60 g grated Parmesan cheese;
• 50 g sour butter;
• 1 Burrata cheese;
• 2 tomatoes;
• Salt and pepper to taste.

Ingredients for the vegetable stock

• 2 l water;
• 2 carrots;
• 2 celery stalks;
• 1 golden onion;
• 10 cherry tomatoes.

Ingredients for the pesto

• 50 basil leaves;
• 70 g grated Parmesan cheese;
• 30 g grated Pecorino Romano cheese;
• 100 ml extra virgin olive oil;
• 15 g pine nuts;
• 1 clove of garlic.

To prepare the pesto:

Arrange the ingredients in a mortar and slowly, patiently, and without applying too much pressure, create the pesto using the pestle and pour in extra virgin olive oil if necessary.

Do you want to use a blender instead of a traditional mortar? Put all the ingredients and an ice cube in a blender and blend only as long as necessary to avoid overheating the preparation.

For the diced pepper tomatoes:

Cut the tomatoes crosswise, then blanch them and, after about thirty seconds, put them in water and ice, then peel them.

Divide the tomatoes into 4 slices and remove the seeds, obtaining tomato petals. Dice the tomato petals and marinate with salt, pepper, and extra virgin olive oil for at least 15 minutes.

The video tutorial of ‘Pesto risotto with burrata cheese and diced peppered tomatoes’.

Preparation methodology

The first thing to do is to boil a pot of water for the stock in which you will put carrots, celery, onion, and tomatoes, cleaned and cut into fairly regular pieces. Bring to the boil and, after half an hour, turn off the heat and strain the stock.

The second thing to do is a visual analysis of the rice.

Spread it out on a tray or large plate and check the grains, eliminating any spotted or broken ones.

Now put the Ghisanativa pan on the heat and let it warm up, pour in the rice, without any fat, add a pinch of salt, and keep stirring.

Toast the rice for a few minutes until it is very hot.

Now pour the first ladle of boiling stock over the rice and wait until it has been completely absorbed before pouring in more.

It is very important to try to break down the cliché of constantly stirring the risotto and instead try to stir it as little as necessary.

The continuous stirring of the spoon, in fact, risks breaking the grains that, during cooking, will overcook and ruin the final balance of the dish.

Continue cooking the risotto, gradually pouring in ladles of hot stock when the previous liquids have been absorbed.

Five minutes before the end of cooking, add salt and pepper and turn off the heat.

Ghisanativa will continue to cook the risotto naturally, thanks to its ability to accumulate heat.

Once the cooking point is reached, stir in very cold sour butter and the pesto and let it rest for a couple of minutes before serving.

If you don’t have sour butter available you can cream with very cold butter and add a teaspoon of vinegar to the risotto to give the necessary acidity that will help to degrease the mouth.

Serve the risotto and garnish with crispy vegetables, fennel tufts, and herb pesto.

Serve garnished with diced burrata and diced peppered tomatoes.

Ghisanativa has a great capacity to accumulate heat, so pay attention during the toasting phase.

Stir the rice continuously during this dry roasting phase to prevent it from burning and, above all, check the rice often because it will get hot very quickly.

Compared to other materials, you can keep the heat (or the power of the induction plate) lower because Ghisanativa – by accumulating heat very well – allows you to maintain the necessary boiling of the risotto more easily.

Using Ghisanativa you will be able to turn off the heat many minutes before the rice is perfectly cooked because the pot remains very hot and the cooking will continue without the need of a heat source. Take this into account when creaming and resting the rice.

This recipe was prepared using