Rice Under Pressure

Making risotto can be intimidating, but you can make it fast—and foolproof—if you use a pressure cooker

Written by Lorna Sass • Styled by Roscoe Betsill
Photographed by Antonis Achilleos • Produced By Susan Tyree Victoria

Enjoying a creamy risotto prepared in ten minutes, with only a brief stirring period at the beginning and end, is a common pleasure for anyone who owns a pressure cooker. (Even Italian cooks admit it when their mothers aren’t listening.) In fact, if you invest in one of the sleek, newly designed European versions (I recommend models from WMF, Kuhn-Rikon and Fissler), risotto will quickly become your favorite dish for entertaining.

The reason pressure cookers work so well for risotto is that water in the sealed pot boils at 242 degrees F instead of the standard 212 degrees. At this higher temperature, the rice gives up its starch in record time, producing the creamy sauce characteristic of a well-made risotto. And most of the broth is added at the start, thereby eliminating the long stirring process.

If you remember pressure-cooker food as soft and mushy, let these chewy, toothsome risottos change your mind. The first, featuring butternut squash and sage, is made with farro, an irresistible Italian variety of wheat, and the other is a more traditional version prepared with plump medium-grain rice, saffron and peas.

Recipes:
Farro Risotto with Winter Squash and Sage
Risotto with Saffron and Peas

Click here to view the resources for this article.

MORE ENTERTAINING ARTICLES