Riso con i Cardi (Rice and Cardoon)

Riso con i Cardi

Well it's definetly winter here,Alps are again covered by snow,I wake up at morning and it's still dark and everyone start to talking about Xmas and presents.
So today I will go for a classic rice recipe, with a typical Piedmontese ingredient: the Cardoon. Now let start from the basic, here what you need:

• 1 Cardoon (with 2 or 3 stalks)
• 2 spoon of flour
• 1/2 cup of lemon juice
• 2 cups boiling water
• 4 cups (1 quart) low-sodium chicken broth
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 shallots, minced
• 1 1/2 cups Arborio or Carnaroli rice
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese  for serving
• Salt as you need it

First of all,remove and discard the tough outer stalks than separate the individual stalks and heart and cut them up, finally drop the pieces into salted boiling water and lemon juice and cook for 15 minutes.
 Place the Cardoon boiled in kitchen robot with the 2 spoons of flour and the lemon juice, mix up everything till it become a  cream than leave it apart.
In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter until foamy add the shallots and cook until soft and lightly colored.
Stir in the chopped shallots cook for about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the rice and stir until it is well coated with butter. Add the wine and cook, stirring frequently, until the liquid has completely evaporated.
Add 1 cup of the hot broth to the rice and cook, stirring frequently, until the liquid is absorbed, about 8 to 10 minutes. Continue to cook the rice, adding 1/2 cup of the hot stock at a time and stirring until it is absorbed before adding more. After 5/6 minutes add the cream of Cardoon.
When the rice is done, it should be creamy and tender but still slightly firm to the bite.

To serve add some Parmigiano Reggiano on top.

Music used for this recipe:

• Weezer
• Snow Patrol
• Subsonica