Risotto, The Chef Tony Way – Guest Blogger Edition!

I am so excited to have Kate from The Ginger List as the first Professional Chicks guest blogger!  Read all about Kate’s amazing day with Chef Tony Mantuano of Spiaggia and Top Chef Masters!

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I recently had the pleasure of attending a cooking class hosted by Tony Mantuano at Spiaggia.  The experience was phenomenal in every way.  I learned a ton, met a Top Chef Master and sampled six delectable dishes that will be featured on the restaurant’s upcoming Venetian menu – all in two hours!  While almost every dish was outstanding, to me, one dish particularly stood out:  the squid ink risotto.  This dish was so delicious and simple, I would feel guilty keeping the recipe to myself.  But before I get to that, I’d like to talk a bit more about the courses leading up to the amazing arborio.

Spiaggia’s classes are demonstration-style, meaning that attendees do not partake in the cooking and no actual recipes are handed out (but rest assured, I jotted down six pages of word-for-word notes on my legal pad!).  The course is led by Chef Tony, his Executive Chef, Sarah, and his sommelier, Jason.  In all, we were served seven courses, as well as several alcoholic accompaniments.

(Check out Tony’s amazing Missoni apron.  He said it was a personal gift from Missoni.  Must be nice!)

The first course was Baccala.  I’m sure at least a few of you have had this dish; I, however, had never even heard of it.  Baccala is essentially salted cod pureed with potatoes and milk, and then spread over crostini.  I’ve been told by my food-savvy friends that Baccala is not their favorite because they find that it’s always oversalted and doesn’t actually have a lot of flavor.  Well, believe you me, Chef Tony’s Baccala Crostini was anything but bland.  The secret, he said, was to soak the salted cod in fresh water for a while, and to change out the water until virtually all of the salt is gone.  Then, once the Baccala is spread onto the crostini, Chef Tony suggested topping it with roasted red pepper flakes, a tasty olive oil, or, if you’re fancy, fried rosemary.

After this course we enjoyed artichokes poached in white wine and olive oil, stuffed with béchamel and basil-fed snails (which apparently taste remarkably better than other-fed snails).   Utterly delicious.

Next, Tony served a Soar, which is a sardine, pickled in a specific way.  I did not care for this dish; in fact, the flavor of the sardine lingered on my palate for the rest of the day.

Onto the pasta courses, which are what Tony and Spiaggia are known for.  The first pasta dish was a simple gigli noodle (pronounced gili) with clams.  It was simply prepared with olive oil, garlic, white wine, parsley, salt/pepper, and a little grated Botarga on top for texture.  For those who are not familiar with Botarga, it almost looks like a hard cheese, but it’s actually salted fish egg sacks that are pressed into firm disks and used to season/salt various other pasta and seafood dishes.  The orange-ish flakes below are Botarga.

And finally, the risotto!

Most people make risotto by coating the rice in oil and then thickening with stock.  Tony’s preparation is a little bit different.  He advised that the first liquid you want the rice to absorb should be white wine.  Tony began with diced onions, which he coated in olive oil and sautéed slightly.  Then he added the rice and coated that in the onion and oil.  Next, he added 1-2 cups of wine, enough to cover the entire amount of rice.  After the rice absorbed the wine, he would continually add small amounts of snapper stock to the rice until it was cooked through.  When the pasta was finished cooking, he added a teaspoon of squid ink to the pan (a teaspoon was more than enough- that stuff is serious!).  At this point, I raised my hand and asked a question.  Turns out my hunch was right: squid ink is purely used for aesthetic purposes and doesn’t really contribute to the flavor of the dish at all.

Before serving, Tony incorporated a pesto into the pasta, which was absolutely divine.  He used basil, pine nuts, olive oil and parmigiano.  Tony explained that while some chefs use parsley in their pesto, he only uses it when he wants to enhance the green color of the pesto.  Since the risotto was already a deep purple/black, he omitted the parsley.  The dish was finished with a few strips of seared cuttlefish, and voilà!

When I made this risotto at home, I used chicken stock and threw in some mushrooms for good measure.  I didn’t have any cuttlefish handy, so instead I cooked some cod and served that alongside.  This is an unbelievably easy and delicious dish, and my friends loved it.

My inspiration:

My version:

(Not half bad, if I do say so myself!)

If you’re interested in taking a cooking class at Spiaggia, I highly recommend it.  Tony was extremely knowledgeable and charming, and all of the Chefs and staff were amazingly friendly and equally well-informed.  Tony’s sommelier even took my email address and emailed me with restaurant recommendations for my upcoming trip to Italy!Salute!