Cast Iron

Risotto "Japanese Style" with Edamame, Bacon and Toasted Pine Nuts

by:
March 13, 2010
4.5
2 Ratings
Risotto "Japanese Style" with Edamame, Bacon and Toasted Pine Nuts
  • Serves 4 to 6
Author Notes

First I went back to Marcella Hazan's book Marcella Cucina and reread her method for cooking risotto. It was then I decided I wanted to make a risotto that concentrated on cooking the rice. Something were I wasn't concerned about sauteing other ingredients or overcooking something. I thought who does simple things best and many times I think Japanese cuisine can coax great flavors out of nothing. The only thing that concerned me was the final addition of butter and cheese and then I remembered how much I liked miso butter for its parmesan characteristics. Originally I made this with dashi that was diluted with water but still found the smoke to be, for me overwhelming. I made this again using vegetable stock and found it was much more to my liking. —thirschfeld

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 1 tablespoon canola oil
  • 1 1/4 cups carnaroli rice
  • 5 cups veggie stock or chicken stock
  • 2 teaspoons soy sauce
  • 1 cup edamame, fresh or frozen, if frozen thaw first
  • 1 tablespoon miso butter, equal parts unsalted butter and yellow miso, mixed together
  • 1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted
  • 2 dried red peppers, sliced thin or hot pepper flakes
  • 1/3 cup bacon, cut into 1/4 inch dice and cooked crispy
  • 1 tablespoon fresh chive, chopped
  • toasted sesame oil
Directions
  1. Pour the stock and soy sauce into a 1 1/2 quart sauce pan and heat to a simmer. Place 12 inch cast iron enamel coated skillet over high heat and add the canola oil. Once it is hot add the rice and stir thoroughly coating the grains with oil. I cooked them until a few of the grains became lightly toasted. Watch out for this next step because there is a good chance the stock will splatter when it hits the hot pan. Add a cup of hot stock to the rice. Stir the rice and reduce the heat to medium. Add a 1/2 cup more of stock and continue to stir the rice. Continue to cook only adding more stock as the rice starts to become dry. Only add enough stock to be even with the level of the rice. It is important to stir the rice almost continually. This coaxes out the starch and keeps it from burning. It takes about 17 to 20 minutes to finish cooking depending on your rice. Near the end of the cooking process add the edamame to heat them through. Once the rice is al dente add the miso butter and pine nuts and stir until the miso butter has melted into the rice. Ladle a nice sized portion into the middle of a warm plate and top with the bacon, chives and just a little red pepper. Drizzle a few drops of sesame oil over it and serve.
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4 Reviews

SaySchwartzAndBeSure
SaySchwartzAndBeSure March 18, 2010
I only cook risotto when I am not rushed and have great seafood at hand, but this is a very interesting take. I love the endamabe, pine nuts and bacon combo... I really want to give this a try. Beautiful!
 
gluttonforlife
gluttonforlife March 13, 2010
Lovely combination of flavors, with that nice umami base from the dashi. Look forward to trying this one!
 
thirschfeld
thirschfeld March 13, 2010
You are welcome mrslarkin. As a said in my rant in this weeks contest preview, I really don't like to cook risotto because I have this standard in my head. That said I do like risotto and about once a year I go on a quest to try to replicate a great risotto I once had many years ago. Then my wife says enough and we move on to other things. Risotto is finicky for me. The rice always seems overdone or not done enough or not enough creamy goodness.... One thing I have always found though and that is I have never had bad risotto
 
mrslarkin
mrslarkin March 13, 2010
Thanks for this recipe! Ever since trying linzarella's Overnight Miso Porridge, I've wanted to try a risotto using sweet white miso - it really DOES taste like Parmigiano!