This dish is perfect for a flavorful lunch or dinner or a unique new item for your summer entertaining menu.
The summer ingredients we are using are peaches; combined with mascarpone and parmesan to create a fresh, light summer risotto.
4 tbsp mascarpone
2 cups rice
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp parmesan cheese
2 fresh peaches, ripe but firm
shallot
1 gallon of vegetable broth
To prepare the broth:
– bring the broth to boil and keep hot
To prepare the risotto:
thinly chop the shallot
braise until golden brown with 1 tbsp of butter in a risotto pan
add 2 cups of rice
stir into braised onions
slowly add broth, keeping broth just covering the rice
as the rice absorbs the broth, slowly add more
repeat and continue until the rice has cooked for 20 minutes
To perpare the peaches
dice into cubs slightly larger than the cooked rice grains
To incorpate the mascarpone and peaches
stir in the mascarpone and peaches while rice is still over the heat
the flavors are slowly released during 5 additional minutes of cooking
Remove from the heat add remaining butter and parmesan cheese in what we call mantecare.
Mantecare: Italian word to describe the last process of making risotto. It is the binding of the butter and parmesan, done while rice is removed from the heat to avoid breaking the butter. This is what creates the creamy texture of risotto.
You have now created a classic Chef Angelo risotto recipe using one of his favorite summer fruits.
Note: to make it lighter, simply cut the amount of butter and mascarpone in half.
