The beauty of Italy is that both in the Northern as well as in the Southern part, there are simple traditions, recipes, and meals that, when combined, release tasty dishes full of harmonious aromas, even though they may not seem to appear.
One of my favorites is the Raspadura and Ginger risotto.
Raspadura, a term from the ancient Lodi dialect, is made up of very thin and light sheets obtained, or rather, “scraped” with a particular knife, from a wheel of young cheese from the Grana cheese family, aged between 4 and 6 months.
It was born in ancient times as a poor ingredient, later re-evaluated thanks to its characteristics of taste and versatility.
Root ginger with a bold taste comes from tropical Asia, and only recently has seen its cultivation expanded in Southern Italy in lands such as Sicily and Puglia.
Since the ancient Greece age, its qualities have been known. It has always been used for health reasons and to flavor many dishes, in cooking and drinks.
So, let’s combine the sweetness of the young parmesan with the vivacity of the “spicy” and exotic ginger, finding the right balance as always in the “middle”.
To cook our risotto for 4 people, let’s get the following ingredients:
– Carnaroli rice 400 gr
– Raspadura 250 gr
– White onion 60 gr.
– Vegetable broth
(meat would make it too tasty) 1 liter
– 1 ginger root 70/80 g
– 50 g of butter to cream the risotto
– Extra virgin olive oil q.b.
– ½ glass of white wine
Fry the onion with some extra virgin olive oil, when it is golden, throw in the rice and brown it for about 1 minute then “shade it” with the white wine and start adding the broth, always stirring the rice gently. Add the broth a little at a time and each time it is absorbed, add more. The fire must be medium-low.
After about 10 minutes of cooking, add half of the ginger root, previously peeled (a potato peeler is very useful to remove the peel), cut it into three pieces, and cook it with the rice. Before turning off the heat (a bowl of traditional rice takes 18 to 20 minutes to cook), add the raspadura and the butter and keep stirring until everything is well melted and blended. Grate some raw ginger on top and remove the chunks of ginger placed during cooking, mix again and serve on plates. Before serving, garnish everything with a petal of raspadura that you have kept aside and freshly grated ginger on top, and…enjoy your meal!
