Risotto alla Milanese with red wine reduction

  • medium
  • 4
  • 1 hour 15 minutes
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This risotto alla Milanese recipe from Giancarlo Morelli stays true to the roots of this iconic recipe, while adding a few contemporary twists. You'll often see this recipe flavoured solely with saffron, but a true risotto alla Milanese sees the onions and rice cooked in bone marrow before adding an intense beef stock – a process that brings a heady richness to the dish.

First published in 2018

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Bone marrow for the risotto and garnish

  • 2 pieces of bone marrow, each about 12cm long
  • salt
  • pepper
  • lemon juice, optional

Risotto alla Milanese

  • 40g of bone marrow, from one of the pieces above
  • 80g of butter
  • 40g of onion, diced
  • 1g of saffron
  • 320g of carnaroli risotto rice
  • 40ml of white wine
  • 800ml of beef stock, kept warm
  • 120g of Parmesan, grated

Red wine reduction

  • 200ml of red wine
  • 25g of butter

Method

1
To begin, prepare the bone marrow for the dish. Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6
2
Place the bones on a tray and roast in the oven for 5 minutes, until the marrow just starts to melt away from the bones. Remove from the oven and carefully scoop out the marrow. Slice one of the bone marrow pieces into four even portions. At this stage, you can either cook the portions sous vide for 1 hour with a little salt and pepper at 68.3°C, or set them aside ready to warm through later before serving. Weight the other piece of bone marrow – you will need 40g for the risotto
  • 2 pieces of bone marrow, each about 12cm long
3
For the red wine reduction, place the wine in a saucepan and place over a medium high heat. Reduce by half, then whisk in the butter until rich and glossy. Set aside in the pan
4
To make the risotto, place the 40g of bone marrow in a pan with 50g of the butter and add the onions and saffron. Cook the onions gently until softened and translucent
  • 1g of saffron
  • 50g of butter
  • 40g of onion, diced
  • 40g of bone marrow, from one of the pieces above
5
Add the rice and toast for a few minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon
  • 320g of carnaroli risotto rice
6
Add the white wine and cook off until evaporated
  • 40ml of white wine
7
Next add a ladle of the warm stock and leave to simmer. Once the stock has been absorbed into the rice, add another ladle of stock. Repeat this process until the rice is cooked
  • 800ml of beef stock, kept warm
8
Remove from the heat and beat in the remaining butter and the Parmesan cheese until glossy and creamy
9
Gently reheat the red wine reduction. Remove the bone marrow pieces from the vacuum bag. If not cooking sous vide, brown the pieces in a pan over a medium heat until warmed through, then season with a little salt, pepper and lemon juice
10
Spoon the risotto onto each plate and drizzle over some of the red wine reduction. Top with a piece of bone marrow and serve immediately

Discover more about this region's cuisine:

Giancarlo Morelli’s trailblazing gastronomy emphasises the very Italian tenets of simplicity, balance and great ingredients to create dishes that are far more than the sum of their parts.

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