Sometimes, less is more: celery root risotto

Ragazzi, the sun made another turn today and Annalena has reached the ripe old age of 54. Yes, indeed. And, due to circumstances completely out of her control, rather than being at home, getting a food massage from a darling acolyte, she is at work, eating take out food and drinking cold coffee. And they call this a civilized country? C'est la vie, as some would say.

The year has been revealing, and perhaps the day itself has been more revealing than one might have thought. I suppose it is a good idea to make changes when one turns a year older and indeed, Annalena shall be doing so. Time to shrug off some bad stuff and absorb some good stuff: sort of like not drinking the bad coffee that is sitting in front of me.

Well, enough of digression, on to food. An explanation of the first part of the title. A week ago, the Guyman and I were having dinner at one of our favorites, Barbuto. You have read of this place in these blogs before. It seemed that, at least that night, Barbuto had embraced autumn in all of its glory. The menu was crammed with dishes based on winter squash, and then there were many other dishes that reflected the turn of seasons, including a risotto of mushrooms and celery root.

Now, the Guyman and Annalena do not discuss what they are going to eat before they sit down. Sometimes, there is some negotiating, but almost never. We are of the school of thought which says that, if both or even all parties at a restaurant table want the same dish, then they should have it. It happens that sometimes we do, but almost never. This night, we were both drawn to the risotto, but there were many other things that we both wanted, both in the antipasti and secondi sections of the menu. Neither one of us being shy about things like that, we both spoke up, almost simultaneously and before you could say "PRONTO!" we were calorie splurging on a mid course of the risotto , shared.

Now, let me say something here, that will echo or even repeat something I have said in this blog, often. If you wonder why your food at home, does not taste like the food in the restaurant, you should watch the restaurant chefs cook your food sometime. As it happened, we were sitting at a table right outside of the restaurant. We could see the spoon - which was more like a shovel- dumping the butter into the risotto when it was being prepared. It was thus not surprising that the dish was buttery, creamy, and delicious. It should also go without saying that there was no way Annalena was going to add that much butter to her risotto at home.

Beyond buttery and creamy and delicious, however, the dish suffered from the "add on " problem. It was indeed surprising that this happened at Barbuto, where the trend is to "take away" from dishes rather than to add. This was good, but it was as if two different risotti had been made, and combined in one plate. The flavors did not really compliment each other, nor did they complement each other (look up the difference, ragazzi). As a long veteran of many mushroom risotti, there was no challenge to Annalena making this at home; however, celery root in risotto had not occurred to her aged brain before. And of course, she ventured forth and made it.

Lowering the amount of butter was a good thing. Yes, some creaminess was lost, but on a night when we were having veal roast with a truffle butter wine reduction, this was "a good thing." Also, it allowed the strong, green flavor of the celery root to come through.

So, you wanna make it? Here's what ya do. This recipe is for four very large servings, or six smaller ones. You may of course reduce it if you like.

Let us prepare the gnarly celery root first. One medium one is all you need, because the flavor is strong. You will see recipes that advise you to "peel" the celery root. If you try to go at these creatures with a vegetable peeler, you will break the peeler, hurt yourself, curse the vegetable and retire from cooking. Or worse. No, carissimi, what you do with a celery root is as follows: first, make a horizontal cut on the bottom, so that you have a smooth, even surface. Place this cut side down on a secure resting place. Then, take a large knife, and cut down the beast, on the sides, cutting away all of the brown, awkward edges.

Yes, you will lose a lot of the vegetable, but this is what happens with celery root. You will then have a cream colored block that smells of.... celery. Make vertical cuts, about 1/3 of an inch thick, and then using a few at a time, cut them into small cubes. No need to be medically precise here, but you don't want them too large. These will discolor, so if you mind that, immerse them in a little chicken or vegetable stock or wine, whichever you prefer.

Now, make your risotto. I COULD just stop here, but let's review. To make the risotto in the quantities discussed here, you will need 1.5 cups of dry, carnaroli rice, six cups of liquid , be it chicken stock, vegetable stock, or a combination, one small onion chopped, perhaps a rib or two of very finely chopped celery (you can leave this out), and a few tablespoons of olive oil. Also, and you can leave this out too, and replace it with more stock, about 2 ounces of white wine.

Start heating the stock in a pot right next to the vessel in which you are cooking the risotto. In the risotto pot or pan, add the vegetable oil and the onion. When the onion has moved to translucent, add the rice, stir it, and watch the color go to an off white. At that point, add the wine and cook it off. Now, you should be ready to make the risotto. Add a large ladle of stock. It will disappear, almost immediately. The next one will need more time, and you should stir while it is cooking. Work the corners of the pan, because the rice tends to stick here and burn. At this point, you may want to add a teaspoon or so of salt. After you've added the third ladle of stock, add the celery root. I lower the heat at this point, and I don't stir the risotto continuously. I stir it every minute or so, but that is about it, as I replenish the liquid.

Start tasting the rice when there's only about one cup of stock left. You have to be a judge here, as to how tender, and how wet you want the rice. If you use up all of the stock and it's not tender enough for you, then add some water, and keep it cooking. Taste a cube of celery root too. You'll want the celery root to be just a little bit more al dente than the rice, and of course, a little bigger.

Notice that we didn't add any saffron here. That's because we want the celery flavor to "sing." Off the heat, however, lash the risotto with lots of grated parmesan cheese, and maybe a couple of tablespoons of butter.

And you are done. And you have made a fall risotto, to accompany the one you're already making with butternut squash, si?

My fondness for celery root is legendary. And now I have a new recipe for my collection. We will be eating and serving this often as the world grows colder.

"As the world grows colder." Hmmm. Stay posted.