The history of Risotto more than likely parallels the influence of the Arabs, who introduced rice to Italy and Spain during the Middle Ages. The high humidity in the Mediterranean basin suited the growing of shorter grain rices, with a booming rice industry having its roots in the north from Genoa and Venice. These types of rice varieties became the basis for both paella in Spain and risotto on the Italian peninsula.

Risotto, when prepared correctly, is a simple dish with complex flavors built up during a specific, slow cooking of the rice and ingredients. In its simplest form, the ingredients are arborio or carnaroli rice (the most popular types), butter (or olive oil), onions (or shallots), grated Parmigiano Reggiano and white wine. There are literally hundreds of other ingredients and variations that encompass the world of risotto, with varied spices (saffron being a favorite) and proteins complimenting the dish.

The method of slow cooking and stirring tends to gelatinize while being stirred, which helps give risotto it's memorable creamy texture.

There are also other rice types well-suited for making risotto: Baldo, Maratelli , Rosa Marchetti , Sant'Andrea and Vialone. The basic technique is to first roast the rice in a bit of fat until it looks translucent, adding wine to deglaze, then adding preheated broth a little at a time while stirring constantly throughout the cooking. Other ingredients, such as Parmigiano Reggiano, and butter are added at the end. Patience is key in making a great risotto at home. The rice needs to feel creamy on the tongue (never mushy) while still being a bit al dente. I could take an hour or more to nurse the risotto into full fruition. There are some tricks for making risotto faster, as restaurant kitchens do, but I won't get into that here. Making risotto at home is an act of love...

Ingredients
2 cups arborio or carnaroli rice (Click the photo, the see on Amazon)
2 tablespoons light olive oil
1 medium sweet onion (or half a large Vidalia)-diced finely
1 cup dry white wine (Frascati or Pinot Grigio, or one of your choice)
6 cups of chick or vegetable broth, heated in a saucepan (for ladling into the rice)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 stick unsalted butter
1-1/4 cups of finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (plus additional for topping off the dish)

• Start by heating the broth in a small saucepan until barely simmering. Maintain this level of heat all the way through the cooking of the rice.
• Using a 12-14" saute pan, heat the olive oil on medium heat, then add the diced onion. Cook until the onions are translucent.
• Add the rice, stirring to coat the rice. Cook for 1-2 minutes until the rice is well coated and the outer surface of the rice looks translucent. You can add the salt at this point.
• Next, turn the heat down to medium low and add the wine. Stir until the wine is absorbed by the rice.
• This step will be repeated until the rice is tender with barely an al dente bite:
  Take a ladle of hot broth and stir it into the rice. Keep stirring (preferably with a flat wooden spoon) until it is absorbed. Repeat, constantly stirring the rice all the way through the cooking. In case you've run out of broth, you can quickly heat up some water and use that to finish off the risotto until you reach the right texture. 

Toward the end, you will notice the starch in the rice being released to make a creamy consistency. Occasionally, taste the rice to make sure it is cooked through while still having a little bit of "tooth". You do not want it mushy, but you don't want crunch on individual grains. You will also know when the rice is nearing completion when you experience a sort of "wave" when you stir the rice, making a circular motion with the flat edge of your spoon around the bottom of the pan. Italian chef's call this the all'onda (wavy) effect. When your spoon passes through the rice, and it leaves behind a silky wave that slowly fills in the wake of your spoon, the risotto is at the right texture.

• The last step is to add the butter and stir more vigorously (like a whipping motion) until it's melted and incorporated.
• Finally, add the cheese and mix thoroughly. Serving risotto immediately is best, but I've found that you can reconstitute risotto leftovers by boiling a half cup of water (or more as needed) in a saucepan, and then adding and stirring the risotto to reheat.

This is an all around recipe that can be varied and added to as you like. I'd suggest practicing this recipe a few times until you consider yourself an expert at making it. After that you can experiment or try your own variations of other recipes you find online. Try a seafood variation by adding shrimp, fish stock and lemon. Or... Roast pumpkin and asparagus (folded in at the end); tomato, basil and pignoli; smoked chicken and eggplant; or classic Milanese style with saffron and peas.

Boun appetito!

--Jerry Finzi

(If you liked this recipe, please SHARE with your friends... grazie).

Every year, as usual, I'm repulsed by the new offerings from these so-called chain pizza factories. This year, they didn't disappoint... or rather, they did. Two were so disgusting and revolting that I just couldn't make up my mind which was worst, resulting in the first tie ever. The winners are:
Kentucky Fried Chicken's "Chizza" and
Pizza Hut's Grilled Cheese Stuffed Crust Pizza

In the case of KFC's 688 calorie Chizza, there is no crust. No, it's not gluten-free. The "crust" is actually an encrusted, deep-fried butterflied double breast of chicken topped by a thick acidic tomato sauce, a phony, grated mozzarella cheese, chunks of rubbery, factory-frozen ham, and chunks of canned pineapple that were picked fresh, Lord-knows how long ago. Oh, to make matters (ugh) worse, they top it off with and KFC’s "special cheese sauce". More than likely "special" as in "this special needs some actual cheese".

It comes in a diminutive imitation personal pizza box.

Cute, no? Ok... no. Oh, and it doesn't come cut in slices like a pizza. It's a bit too small to cut up. You just sort of pick up the chicken "crust" (wash your hands first--and after) and dig in with your choppers. They apparently must have done a lot of committee work and focus groups to come up with their slogan for this mash-up... "All Chicken, No Crust". It's a bit of misnomer since the crust in ON the chicken.

The pièce de résistance is that for an extra couple of bucks, you can get an even bigger meal called the Chizza Box, which comes with one Chizza, one deep fried chicken drumstick (if you're in a really ravenous chicken mood), a cup of whipped potato flakes, and just to balance out the "meal"--and just what you'd expect from this gourmand brand--more potatoes in the form of some deep fried "Potato Winders".  Of course, a Coke is included in the price, just to help all this go down easily.

This got a 9.75 on my Disgust Rating Scale.

Pizza Hut's Grilled Cheese Stuffed Crust Pizza is 3200 calories of fake-cheesy, pure evil (that's for a "plain" pizza). Their stuffed crusts have always sickened me before, but this one made me ask, "Who cut the cheese... and why would he do that anyway?"

In addition to the crust being generously stuffed with "cheddar cheese" filling (Cough, "Crap Cheese"), to give it that crumby, grilled cheese mouth-feel, they sprinkle on some garlic flavored, fried buttered-breadcrumbs onto the crust area, and add "garlic-butter sauce" on top of the center of the pizza (I use this term very loosely here). There is often so much breadcrumbs on it, you feel like you're eating breaded... er... bread. The crust winds up tasting more like a fast food, cheesy garlic bread than an All-American grilled cheese, but much, much saltier. This also rated a 9.75 on my scientifically designed Disgust Rating Scale.

All in all, these types of offerings make me cringe. Please don't think they are pizza. Your neighborhood pizzeria more than likely can make pizzas that will always surpass fast food, factory "pizzas". besides, real pizzas--whether home made or from a pizzeria--are a lot healthier and tastier than these award winners will ever be.

If you want the best pizza, try making them in your own kitchen.

(Click HERE to read my three-part series on Making a Great Pizza at Home)

--Jerry Finzi 

Now that you've gathered together a basic pizza making toolkit, let's start actually making one... ​

​Ingredients for Our Basic Pizza Dough
Proofing the Yeast​
1 - 1/4 cups warm water (about 115 degrees F)
1  packet instant or "instant" yeast (or 1 tablespoon packaged/dry yeast)
1  tablespoon honey or sugar

Mix the yeast and honey with the warm (115 degrees F) water in a medium size measuring cup. Set aside to "proof" (foam up). To understand what's going on, the honey (or sugar) feeds the yeast and makes it create bubbles to lift the dough... pizza dough is a leavened crust (more akin to bread). A dough without yeast (or less yeast) makes more of an unleavened bread--like a cracker.

​You want to mix the dough until it separates from the bowl--but it should still be a bit sticky. Go slow with adding more flour. A dough that's too dry will make a tough, leathery crust. You want it soft and a bit sticky.  If the dough is sticking to the sides of the bowl a little, you can dust the sides of the dough ball with a little flour, then use a spatula to separate it from the sides before turning it out onto your work surface. Flour your work surface in an area about the size of the pizza you are making.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead by hand. Flour both your hands and flour the top of the dough on the board. Fold the dough over toward you, push forward with the heel of your hand, then turn 1/4 turn and keep repeating until the dough looks smooth, soft and slowly bounces back when you stick it with your thumb.

Some say you must knead the dough for 5 or even 10 minutes or more, but I think this produces too much stringy gluten--the glue in dough--and causes the dough to be tough. Gluten development happens even without much kneading. Besides, I'd rather be eating my pizza sooner rather than later.

Tuck in or pinch together the bottom of your dough round and make it into a flat round shape, then put it in the oiled bowl to rise. Coat both sides--there should be oil on top of the dough round and the bottom of your rising bowl. Cover it with plastic wrap and let it rise at room temperature for 45 minutes. On dry days, I usually help along the humidity a bit and lay a damp paper towel on top of the plastic wrap. You could even use a damp cotton chef's towel.

There are two ways to proceed now. One is the quick way--a single rise--the other is longer... a double rise. Typically, for our weekly, Saturday night pizza, I'll do a short, single rise, unless I'm trying something a bit different:

• 45 minutes at room temperature, then punch down the dough gently and start forming the pizza.

If I'm trying to make a special artisan pizza or focaccia recipe I'll do a double rise:

• 45 minutes at room temperature, then punch the dough down gently and let it rise a second time for 1-2 hours (or even overnight)  in the fridge. Take it out, let it rest on your workbench for 5 minutes or so (to relax the gluten... this makes it less springy and makes it easy to form it out to a pizza shape). Then you can form your pizza.
  
  

There is also another type of rise for deep dish and pan pizzas... where I do a first rise at room temp, then form the dough to fit into the deep dish pan and let it rise again in the pan at room temp.  More on that when I get to my pan pizza recipes.

The longer the rise, the more complex flavor develops in the crust... something I think is unnecessary for a quick "get dinner on the table" pizza.

--Jerry Finzi

When I starting making pizza about 15 years ago, I made a lot of terrible pies... doughy, pale-looking, tasteless, flat, oily, floppy, burnt--you name it. Lots of mistakes. But that's the part of life I love--learning from our mistakes and really fine-tuning a craft, talent or skill. You have to crawl before you walk or run. On guitar, one must pluck before you strum and then eventually really make some music. On my penny whistle, I squealed like a pig before I could play a tune that my wife wanted to sit and listen to. My love of carpentry started when I was 5 years old... with me holding the board while my father sawed it through. Now, I can built pretty much anything I set out to build. 

Learning to make truly great Pizzas requires the same attitude--learning from mistakes--and successes, as they add up. I would say that it took me about a year to learn how to make a really delizioso pizza--perhaps another couple of years until I could make pretty much any style of pizza... thin crust, thick foccacia, Chicago deep dish style, etc.  I'm not saying it will take you a year, especially since you have me to help you along! You have to start somewhere, and with that simple fact, you need a simple dough that works. I am going to show you how to make my all-around, Basic Pizza Dough... ​
​But, first... 

To make a good crust, you really need a rectangular pizza stone. Round stones are limiting (and they can be fairly small), but you can use a 16" rectangular or square stone to make virtually any type or shape of pizza (or bread), regardless of whether or not they are placed directly on the stone or are baked in a pan. Although you can bake pizzas in pans placed directly on an oven rack, using a stone affords shorter bake times and a crisper bottom crust. Placing a pizza in a metal pan directly on a stone speeds up the transfer of heat from the stone to the pan. On a rack, the air in between the rack's wires insulates most of the metal and slows down this transfer of heat from the rack to the pan.  For the same reason, a darker pan helps bake faster and gives a crisper bottom crust. ​

You should also pick up a pizza peel to prep your pizzas on and to remove pizzas from your oven. You might have seen a TV pizzaiolo on occasion loading up their dough rounds with toppings right on their floured, marble work surface, and then drag it onto a peel. Don't even try this. Your dough could stick, you could tear it and heavier toppings will go all over the place. (Because of the way it's made, commercially made dough is often tougher than home-made, artisan pizza, which can be very delicate.) Shape your pizza on a wooden peel. I like using a metal one for removing pizzas from the oven, but a wooden one can also do double duty, if space is at a premium. If you plan on using a wooden peel to remove your pizzas form the oven, select one with a long handle to make lifting heavily topped pizzas more manageable. This is the advantage of having a separate metal, long handled metal peel for removing pies from the oven.
​Tip: In case you have a small, galley style kitchen, make sure you have room to back out a long handled peel before buying one. 

When planning to bake pizzas directly on the stone, I recommend using parchment paper on top of your wood peel when shaping your dough.
​The process: cover your wood peel with parchment; after kneading the dough on your work counter, shape the dough on top of the parchment; next, add the toppings. The parchment does two things: It helps slide your pizza (with the parchment underneath) onto the baking stone (even with heavily loaded pies); and it helps keep your stone and oven clean. When I first started making pizzas, I used to use stone ground corn meal on the wooden peel. You can do this, but I've found that some always falls into the oven itself, gets burned and makes a mess on both the oven and stone.​

For serving, buy a flat, round 16-18" pizza serving pan (the larger  size can also fit 16" rectangular pizzas). Do not use this type of pan to bake pizzas on, simply because they are usually silver and won't crisp a crust bottom that well. 

You might also consider a large wooden pizza serving board for serving--and cutting--your pizzas on. Finally, don't forget to buy a decent, large diameter pizza wheel (cutter).  

--Jerry Finzi

Panna Cotta with Raspberries and Red Currants

A recipe from Rose Passion...

​Panna cotta is a dessert from Piedmont--a classic of Italian cuisine. Versatile and simple to make, it realize lends itself to numerous interpretations based on tastes of the seasons. In this dessert, the creaminess is enhanced by the tangy flavors of red berries. 
Instead of classical coulis, I chose a delicious combination, and particularly a water-based cream with raspberries and currants which gives a sour hint in contrast to the sweet cream. The originality of this recipe is in the range of healthy ingredients as well as in the final presentation. 
I used a wonderful heart shaped pan for this panna cotta--an elegant and romantic look perfect for Valentine's Day. To purchase in Italy, click " Heart ". (GVI: Or you can use one like this on Amazon). 

Ingredients: 
400 g fresh cream 
100 g milk 
2 g agar agar 
80g caster sugar
For the cream to water raspberries and currants: 
150 g red fruits (raspberries and red currants) 
250 ml water 
120 g caster sugar 
50 g cornstarch 
1 g agar agar
Procedure: 
Blend the red fruits and strain the sauce through a sieve to eliminate the seeds. 
In a cold saucepan stir: sift together the starch, sugar, water and agar agar. 
Add the raspberry sauce and currants, stir and bring to a boil. The cream will take on a gelatinous appearance. 
Remove from the heat and quickly pour the cream into the silicone mold. 
Level the surface and let solidify in the refrigerator at least 2 hours. 
Prepare the panna cotta: in a cold saucepan, melt the agar agar in milk, stir and add the cream and sugar. 
Place over medium-low heat and simmer for about 3 minutes. 
Pour the mixture into a bowl and stir occasionally to prevent a skin from forming. 
Once the panna cotta is cold, pour over the raspberry cream and currants. 
Let stand in the refrigerator for 4-6 hours. 
Turn out and serve the panna cotta on a serving dish.
Notes: For a lighter version, replace the cream with coconut milk; Use soy milk or almond instead of whole milk. 
The cream is a water-based gluten-free--ideal for filling and decorating desserts. Versatile and lightweight, you can make it taste like pudding by adding 25 g of butter. 
I omitted the red dye and added agar agar.

Click HERE For more on the wonderful Rose Passion blog. 

I've learned things in my many years of cooking... and I'm still learning lots of tricks and shortcuts in nella cucina. From time to time, I'll be passing long these Kitchen Hacks you our fellow Voyagers to help with many cooking tasks...

As you can tell, the first Hack concerns onions. There is a real science behind this Hack. Perhaps too much for the home cook to even want to understand. To boil it down: when you cut an onion, it releases sulfenic acid which then changes into other compounds as soon as they make contact with the air. These are the chemicals that burn your eyes so much. 

Some people think it's the variety of onion that makes a difference, but the more precise truth is that it's where the onion is grown and in what type of soil that matters most. Sweet onions grown in less sulfur rich clay soils in places like Georgia contain less sulfur to start with. 

All you really have to remember is to buy only "Sweet Onions" (this is what they are called in the U.S.). You will find them called Vidalia, Maiu Sweet, Mayan Sweet, Walla Walla, etc.
Do NOT use the bagged, smaller sized "yellow" onions. These are storage onions, and as such, their level of sulfur compounds increase as they age and when cut, they really burn your eyes. 

Sweet Onions (we buy Vidalia unless making something requiring large amounts of onions, like French onion soup) are typically much larger and often a flatter, less round shape. They are also wetter than "storage" or bagged onions. As onions sit for long periods of time they dry out. The higher water content in large sweet onions help dilute the sulfur compounds. The dryer the onion, the more likely it will make you cry. 

Here's a ranking with the LESS TEARFUL types on top:

1. sweet onions (Vidalia, Walla-Walla, etc.)
2. leeks
3. green onions (scallions)
4. red onions
5. shallots
6. smaller, bagged or "storage" yellow onions
7. white onions 

Good luck keeping those tears at bay... 

--Jerry Finzi

If you're discovering the world of fine Italian (or French, or even domestic) wines, you'll need to learn to open a bottle the way the professional sommeliers do... with a specialized device called a Sommelier.  I bought my olive wood handled one in Alberobello, Puglia--the land of the magical Trulli pointed houses. One of the best to own is a Laguiole style... and this is a very good priced one. It has a cutter to slice through the foil covering the cork, a corkscrew and a two-stage lever for extracting the cork. 
Click the photo  or HERE to see this on Amazon for $100.

My wife Lisa gave me this as a stocking stuffer this past Christmas. It's a beautiful olive wood mattarello--a perfect small size (13") for rolling out pasta dough for hand made lasagna or tagliatelli. Being made from sustainable olive wood resources is a big plus in my book. Click the photo or HERE to see it on Amazon ($37)

​I have several Laguiole pocket knives. My first (with a fold-out corkscrew) was bought in Paris on my honeymoon, by my own honey as a gift to me. We had many picnics using that knife, both in France and Italy. I keep that one in my pocket every day.

These are beautifully made knives that will last a lifetime. The boxed set of six steak knives pictured above are the original style--and high quality--made in Thiers, France. They are not the poor imitations made in China from inferior steel and plastics that you see in catalogs nowadays. And these all have the little bee on the shank of the blade in fine detail.

Compare these to the cheap knockoffs and there's no comparison. The price reflects the quality. And to be clear, there is no such thing as a "Laguiole" brand... it is actually the name referring to the style (shape, design, quality) of knives made in the  town of Thiers in the Auvergne region central France.  The next time you try making a 4 inch thick, Bistecca alla Fiorentina over an open wood fire, you'll apreciate the feel of these blades. An investment of a lifetime, click the large photo above or HERE to see them on Amazon. ($390)

When you think of it, there's nothing as timeless as olive wood. These trees have been around since before the dawn of man. The wood is sweetly scented. The oils are precious to cooks throughout the world. And there are trees in Italy that are monuments to their long lived species. 
Viva l'olivo...

--Jerry Finzi