Amuse Bouche: Craving Risotto

When it starts getting cold, risotto quickly becomes one of our very favorite dishes. In the summer, we find it way too heavy, but in the winter it’s perfect: the creamy grains are beautifully warming and hearty for an effect that’s a bit like a haute macaroni and cheese. Mmm. Risotto. We happen to make a fabulous lemon risotto, but if you’d rather not spend a half hour constantly stirring a pot, here are four of the Hub’s best risottos.

Eclano’s risotto verdure is pretty much the definition of luxury. The Arborio rice is herbed and then mixed with clams, shrimp, and crayfish.
•We very much like the approach Metropolis Cafe has to risotto. Their dish is made with sweet butter, parmesan, and whatever happens to be fresh, ensuring a delightfully seasonal dish.
•Mushrooms lend risotto even more heartiness, so its no surprise that they’re a popular ingredient. The Washington Square Tavern’s wild mushroom risotto ups the ante with sweet corn, asparagus, pecorino and a port gastrique. We would put port gastrique on anything up to and including our breakfast toast.
Harvest goes in a rather British direction with their porcini risotto: sweet English peas, Berkshire ham, and fontina. We strongly dislike fontina, but other than that, it sounds just lovely.

Eclano [MenuPages]
Metropolis Cafe [MenuPages]
The Washington Square Tavern [MenuPages]
Harvest [Official Site]

[Photo: Whole Foods]

Amuse Bouche: Craving Risotto