Buttery Hazelnut Risotto Recipe

Risotto is a classic Italian dish; hearty and creamy, it is a perfect meal to keep you warm in the colder months of the year. Cooked gently and slowly over the stovetop, risotto is a seemingly simple dish that needs a lot of attention to perfect. The most important rule is to stick close to your pan and keep stirring the rice, because it is the continued agitation of the grains that causes them to release starches making the resulting risotto thick and creamy. A delicious and filling dish, risotto is also relatively inexpensive to make, making it an ideal meal for eating on a budget. 

This buttery hazelnut risotto recipe, developed by Tasting Table recipe developer Jennine Rye, combines a classic Parmesan risotto with lots of butter and toasted hazelnuts, giving it a wonderful cheesy, buttery, and nutty flavor that is great on its own or easy to pair with a variety of sides. Naturally gluten-free, this recipe can also easily be adapted to a vegetarian diet by choosing a vegetable stock to cook the rice (and an alternative to Parmesan depending on your view of cheeses made using rennet.) Read on to find out how you can make this buttery hazelnut risotto yourself. 

To begin this buttery hazelnut risotto recipe, first you will need to gather the ingredients. You will want stock, bay leaves, olive oil, butter, an onion, garlic power, risotto rice, white wine, salt and pepper, and grated Parmesan. You will also want hazelnuts, and, to serve, hazelnut oil and fresh parsley. 

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Toast the hazelnuts in a medium-sized baking tray for 10 minutes to bring out their flavor.

Allow the hazelnuts to cool down and then roughly chop them up.

In a large saucepan, heat up the chicken or vegetable stock until barely simmering, then add the bay leaves.

Heat up a large, deep frying pan to a medium heat. Add the olive oil and 1 tablespoon of butter. Add the onion and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until softened.

Add the garlic powder and cook for one more minute, before adding the risotto rice to the pan. Coat it well in the oils of the pan and toast for 1 minute.

Add the white wine to the pan, and allow the rice to cook in the wine until it has absorbed most of the liquid.

Slowly feed the rice with the hot stock, a ladleful at a time, and keep stirring as the risotto cooks, until the rice is plump and creamy, while retaining a little bite, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Take the risotto off the heat and add the butter, stirring it in quickly to emulsify it, making it light and velvety.

Stir in the grated Parmesan and then the majority of the toasted, chopped hazelnuts. Season well with salt and pepper.

Serve the risotto hot, topped with the remaining chopped hazelnuts, a drizzle of hazelnut oil, and a sprinkling of fresh parsley.

There are a number of different types of rice, and not all of them are suitable for making risotto. The likes of basmati and brown rice won't give good results as they are long-grain varieties with a lower starch content, and the starch is what gives the risotto its thick creamy texture.

To make a good risotto, a starchier, short-grain variety is best, and you do have a few options which will give slightly different textures, depending on your preference. There are a couple of traditional Italian choices, such as arborio rice, which takes its name from a town in the Po Valley in Northern Italy. It has a really high starch content resulting in a hearty sticky risotto. There are also two higher-end varieties of Italian rice: Carnaroli, and Vialone Nano. These are more highly prized, but can be harder to come by, as well as a more expensive choice, but if you can find them and fancy trying something slightly up-market, they will make for a beautifully delicate risotto.

Another slightly left-field option is Bomba rice, which is native to Valencia in Northeast Spain. Although it is typically used in paella, it will work really well in a risotto and give the resulting dish a slightly firmer texture compared to the more conventional Arborio-based classic.

This risotto dish is delicately flavored with a creamy and nutty taste, and it is delicious either served alone as a starter or main with a simple side salad, or as a side dish to a larger entree. Grilled chicken or lamb are both delicious, protein-based accompaniments, and for those who enjoy fish, lemon sole or plaice pair beautifully with this risotto. For vegetarian options, grilled halloumi or field mushrooms are great pairing options The caramelized sweetness of, say, a roasted winter squash, is a delicious accompaniment to the roasted hazelnuts as well.

Risotto is a great dish to make in advance, and it is a great recipe for batch cooking; it's hard to make a small amount of risotto! If you like, you can cook up a large amount of risotto, store it and freshly cook a different accompaniment to go with it for each meal, combining the convenience of batch cooking with the variety of something different each day. It is best stored in the fridge in an airtight container, and because this risotto doesn't contain meat, it will keep for up to 5 days. Freezing it is not such a good idea, however, as the process will change the texture of the rice, making it mushy when defrosted.