Risotto

Dine with Vivian at Nicholini.

My wife had a five-dishes course. I ordered crab cake with salad as starter, and frog legs in risotto as the entree. (The waiter was of course slightly surprised to find the lady had a better appetite.)

The risotto was excellent: smooth (but still chewy), creamy, and full of the flavour of cheese and asparagus. In fact, there was nothing special in the ingredient - and the dish was purely a test of patience of the chef. I know just too well after trying to make risotto myself: it is essentially a continual hour of adding the broth bit by bit to the rice.

For that reason, it is not an entirely good idea to have risotto in a Italian restaurant. Because of the time consideration (well, you won't wait for an hour for your risotto; will you ?) many restaurants have the pot of rice half-done and put aside. When a customer make an order, it is put back on the stove and finished with.

PS. Although there are many similarities, paella is a somewhat careless simplification of risotto - the whole volume of broth is added all at once and the pan left to boil until the whole thing is done. Well, that's why the Collosseium and Pantheon are in Roma - although I also prefer paella when I have to do it myself !