Risotto with radicchio, guanciale and… Montefalco Sagrantino!
a l e a n d … M o n t e f a l c o S a g r a n t i n o !
Here we are, ready for a new week of creative cuisine with the blog of the Azienda Agricola Montioni, Between Kitchen and Cellar!
This week we received an email describing a dish that welcomes Autumn with open, or rather wide open, arms!
Are you wondering how this friend of ours used Montioni wine and oil in her autumn recipe?
We are happy to show you all the ingredients and step by step directions for this tasty dish.
Let’s start cooking!
Recipe: Risotto with Radicchio and Guanciale
Ingredients (serves 4)
– 350 gr rice
– 1/2 glass Montioni Montefalco Sagrantino
– 1 onion
– 100 gr. guanciale (pig cheek)
– 100 gr. radicchio (chicory)
– Vegetable broth
– Parmigiano Reggiano Q.B.
– 30 gr. Montioni Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Pairing Between Kitchen and Cellar
Montioni Montefalco Sagrantino. Full-bodied wine with an intense flavour, easy to enjoy with typical recipes like this risotto.
Method
In the risotto with radicchio and guanciale, a classic autumn dish, all the typical flavours of the season converge.
After spending the whole summer eating light dishes, such as cold rice and caprese, now it is high time to enjoy a true risotto with intense aroma; guanciale, sweet and crispy, creates a pleasant contrast with the typical bitter taste of radicchio.
This wonderful union of flavours is enhanced by using the most typical wine of the Umbrian territory, Montefalco Sagrantino!
Here are the directions:
1) Finely chop and sauté the onion for 5 minutes in 2 tablespoons Montioni Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
2) Add 100 grams of diced bacon and when it is toasted add 100 grams of finely chopped radicchio.
3) When the radicchio starts to dry in the pan, add 350 grams rice and toast it for a few minutes.
4) Add salt and pour 1/2 glass of Montefalco Sagrantino.
5) Once the wine has evaporated, start pouring the broth until the rice is cooked, then stir it all together with Parmigiano-Reggiano.
The result is excellent:
Once the risotto is ready to be served, the finishing touch is a good drizzle of Montioni extra virgin olive oil! It will mix and enhance all flavours.
What better pairing in the cellar for this recipe if not Montioni Montefalco Sagrantino?
The presentation of this autumn-flavoured risotto is truly original, our compliments to Lucia, who sent us this recipe from the province of Perugia!
And what are you waiting for to send us your favourite recipes?
We are waiting for you here on the Montioni blog, Between Kitchen and Cellar!
On occasion, the winemaker may decide to leave them in if the grapes themselves contain less tannin than desired. This is more acceptable if the stems have ‘ripened’ and started to turn brown. If increased skin extraction is desired, a winemaker might choose to crush the grapes after destemming.
Wine is one of the most civilized things in the world and one of the most natural things of the world that has been brought to the greatest perfection, and it offers a greater range for enjoyment and appreciation than, possibly, any other purely sensory thing.
Removal of stems first means no stem tannin can be extracted. In these cases the grapes pass between two rollers which squeeze the grapes enough to separate the skin and pulp, but not so much as to cause excessive shearing or tearing of the skin tissues. In some cases, notably with “delicate” red varietals such as Pinot noir or Syrah, all or part of the grapes might be left uncrushed (called “whole berry”) to encourage the retention of fruity aromas through partial carbonic maceration.
The Grapes
The quality of the grapes determines the quality of the wine more than any other factor. Grape quality is affected by variety as well as weather during the growing season, soil minerals and acidity, time of harvest, and pruning method. The combination of these effects is often referred to as the grape’s terroir.
Grapes are usually harvested from the vineyard from early September until early November in the northern hemisphere, and mid February until early March in the southern hemisphere.
In some cool areas in the southern hemisphere, for example Tasmania, harvesting extends into May. The most common species of wine grape is Vitis Vinifera, which includes nearly all varieties of European origin. The most common species of wine grape is Vitis Vinifera, which includes nearly all varieties of European origin.
Manual harvesting is the hand-picking of grape clusters from the grapevines. In the United States, some grapes are picked into one- or two-ton bins for transport back to the winery. Manual harvesting has the advantage of using knowledgeable labor to not only pick the ripe clusters but also to leave behind the clusters that are not ripe or contain bunch rot or other defects. This can be an effective first line of defense to prevent inferior quality fruit from contaminating a lot or tank of wine.
Destemming is the process of separating stems from the grapes. Depending on the winemaking procedure, this process may be undertaken before crushing with the purpose of lowering the development of tannins and vegetal flavors in the resulting wine. Single berry harvesting, as is done with some German Trockenbeerenauslese, avoids this step altogether with the grapes being individually selected.
Crushing is the process when gently squeezing the berries and breaking the skins to start to liberate the contents of the berries. Destemming is the process of removing the grapes from the rachis (the stem which holds the grapes).
In traditional and smaller-scale wine making, the harvested grapes are sometimes crushed by trampling them barefoot or by the use of inexpensive small scale crushers. These can also destem at the same time. However, in larger wineries, a mechanical crusher/destemmer is used. The decision about destemming is different for red and white wine making. Generally when making white wine the fruit is only crushed, the stems are then placed in the press with the berries. The presence of stems in the mix facilitates pressing by allowing juice to flow past flattened skins.
Katerina Monroe
@katerinam • More Posts by Katerina
Congratulations on the award, it's well deserved! You guys definitely know what you're doing. Looking forward to my next visit to the winery!
