This recipe for the Genoese roasted rice tastes of friendship. My friend Serafino (a famous genoese butcher now on retirement and son of one of the most popular restaurant owner in Genoa in the fifties) gave it to me – a present, a real surprise – an evening of October last. Written on the computer and printed on the fly it accompanied a bag of superfine arborio rice from Cascina Veneria, the best ever tasted rice in his opinion.
Try this recipe! You will see how good it is, my mother used to prepare roasted rice just like that, and with this rice it will be perfect. Then maybe you can also publish it on your blog. Golly, Serafino! It’s a honor. Indeed I will try out and publish your family recipe of Genoese roasted on my blog!
I had to wait a few months for the best artichokes to appear on the market, though, but in the end I did it. I prepared it and Serafino was right, the dish is great and the rice he recommended is remarkable.
You should know that Roasted rice is a traditional dish of Genoese cuisine (by the way it reminds me the Spanish “arroz seco“). It was born as a way to recycle risotto leftovers and became, with some small changes, a rich and delicious dish.
The preparation is simple, the ingredients are few, with distinct and yet complementary flavors. Sausage, onions, artichokes, peas.
The final result is really great. The rice comes out of the oven hidden under a golden and crispy crust. The grains crunch under the teeth alternating with the softness of the sausage, peas and artichokes.
It’s a dish to bring to the table just came out of the oven, still crunchy and fragrant. A dish which tastes of home, family, friendship.
If some leftovers remain – but it’s hard to believe – you can reheat them in the oven (the rice will become even crispier and crunchier) or you can prepare rice croquettes (with a core of chees, as my granny used to!).
Some recipe of Genoese roasted rice suggests to add tomato paste to “color” the rice and give an acid note. I adhered to Serafino’s recipe and left it white, soaking it only with dry white wine, but you can feel free to add it!
Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 10 g of dried mushrooms
- 1 small blonde onion
- 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
- 250 g of uncooked pork sausage
- ½ glass of dry white wine
- 2 artichokes
- 100 gr of young peas
- 320 g of superfine carnaroli rice
- 3 tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 lt of meat broth
- salt
- pepper
- 30 g of butter
- bread crumbs
Instructions
- Soak the dried mushrooms in water for about twenty minutes, then drain, squeeze and cut finely.
- Clean the artichokes, cut them into thin slices and leave them to soak in a bowl with water and lemon.
- Heat the meat stock.
- Finely chop the onion and brown it with oil in a large saucepan for 5 minutes.
- Then add the sausage (peal removed) chopped in small pieces. Pour the white wine and let evaporate.
- Add the peas, the drained artichokes and the soaked and chopped dried mushrooms in the pan. Pour 2 ladles of hot meat stock and cook over a low heat for 20 minutes.
- Boil the rice in plenty of salted water, remove from the heat halfway (after about 7 minutes) and drain.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C.
- Remove the seasoning from the heat, add the rice, the 3 tablespoons of Parmigiano Reggiano and mix everything. Season with pepper and salt to taste.
- Grease a baking dish with oil, pour the rice, even with a spoon and sprinkle with a ladle of meat broth. Spread a few flakes of butter on the surface and sprinkle with breadcrumbs.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the broth has dried and then for another 5 minutes with the grill on so as to obtain a nice golden crust.
- Serve hot or lukewarm.
LINK LOVE:
- There is another famous recipe of Italian Riviera cuisine that uses rice as the main ingredient: it is the savory rice pie. It is eaten lukewarm but also at room temperature: a good solution to prepare in advance to have a dish ready to serve at the very last moment, a quick lunch in office, or an appetizer to serve to friends along with an aperitif.
- The season of artichokes arrived, the market stalls are invaded by boxes crammed with these green pungent flowers. The occasion is perfect, therefore, to prepare the Italian Riviera artichoke pie too!
- Finally, we are in full Carnival period. Why not prepare Italian Carnival fritters? Here on the blog you will find the recipe of the original ones of Vallebona (a small village close to the border with France), flavored with bitter orange blossoms water, a special product therein produced (and a slow food presidia!).
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