Risotto all'Amarone e ciliegie

Ingredients

• 150 g 5 oz or 1 cup rice for risotto (preferably of the Vialone nano variety )
• 250 g 9 oz red or black cherries (pitted)
• 400 ml 1-3/4 cups Amarone (or another full bodied red wine
• Sugar
• 1 shallot (finely minced )
• 1-2 knobs butter
• 350 ml 1-1/2 cups broth (or as much as you need, preferably homemade )
• 25 g 1 oz parmigiano-reggiano (freshly grated )

Instructions

1. 1

   --- Prepping the cherries and purée ---

2. 2

   Add the cherries to a saucepan along with 250ml (1 cup) of the wine and a pinch of sugar. Let the cherries simmer gently until they are tender but haven't turned to mush. This shouldn't take long at all, perhaps 5 minutes. As they simmer, use a wooden spoon to slightly crush the cherries.

3. 3

   Remove a few of the cherries for garnish. Purée the rest, along with their cooking liquid, in a blender. Taste the purée. It should have just a hint of sweetness; if need be, add another pinch of sugar.

4. 4

   --- Making the risotto ---

5. 5

   Start by gently sautéing the shallot in the butter, then adding the rice and let it sauté gently until it turns a milky white, then add a good splash of the wine.

6. 6

   When the wine evaporates, start adding the broth, ladleful by ladleful, and stirring from time to time. Once the rice has absorbed the broth from one ladle, add another ladleful of broth and keep stirring.

7. 7

   Repeat as needed. When the rice is half-cooked—after about 10 minutes—add half of the cherry purée in lieu of the broth, let the rice absorb it. Then continue with more broth until the rice is cooked al dente.

8. 8

   Meanwhile, gently simmer the other half of the cherry purée, letting it reduce until it thickens enough to coat a spoon.

9. 9

   When the rice is done, turn off the heat and add in the grated parmigiano-reggiano, along with another knob of butter if you like, stirring vigorously until the cheese has melted and the rice develops a nice creamy consistency. Your risotto should be quite loose. If not, add a bit more broth or water.

10. 10

    --- Serving ---

11. 11

    Plate your risotto and drizzle the rest of the purée on top, along with the reserved cherries for garnish. Serve immediately.