Today we stay in Milan, but we enter the kitchen! And in the kitchen, Milan rhymes with risotto! Saffron risotto? No! We’ll tell you about that another time.
Among the traditional Milanese dishes we love most is certainly the risotto alla milanese, made unmistakably yellow by the use of saffron. But how many other recipes, from Milan and Lombardy, involve the use of rice, the cereal par excellence of our territory?
Today, in the company of a chef who specializes in the refined preparation of risotto, Roberto Fontana, patron of the 23 risottos restaurant Casa Fontana*, we talk to you about Risotto alla luganega, a typical dish from Brianza, prepared with the tasty Lombard sausage.
But how to recognize real luganega? It is a pork sausage, fine-grained, long and thin, snail-rolled: its savory flavor pairs wonderfully with rice, resulting in one of the tastiest risottos in our region.
And what are the origins of this ancient, perhaps somewhat wintry recipe? The story goes that every last Thursday in January, the Giübiana, a ravenous old witch, on the far side of darkness would go hunting for children to devour. One mother, in an attempt to save her child, had the idea of adding some pieces of sausage to the regular risotto, a delicious recipe that would distract the witch. All intent on eating the large pot of risotto left on a window sill, the witch did not notice the impending dawn and, as the sun rose, was pulverized by the first rays of light. Therefore, every year, especially in Brianza, the end of January is celebrated by a big bonfire and the preparation of this legendary dish!
Now let’s go and prepare the Risotto!
*Thank you to Roberto Fontana, patron of Restaurant 23 Risotto Casa Fontana.
Recipe
Ingredients for 4 people
400 g. Carnaroli rice
30 g. Chopped onion
30 g. Butter
160 g. luganega cut into 4 pieces
2.5 lt. Meat and vegetable broth
6 dl. Full-bodied red wine Barbera type
Execution
Fry the onion in butter. Add the rice and toast it. Deglaze with 150 cl. of red wine and begin cooking, adding the stock a little at a time.
Separately brown the luganega in a saucepan with a little butter, add 100 cl. of stock and 300 cl. of wine, let it cook and reduce the sauce to 1/3.
Halfway through cooking the risotto, add another 150 cl of wine.
When the rice is finished cooking, the luganega will also be ready, and it will have a nice purplish color and a tasty sauce.
Incorporate a knob of butter into the risotto, stir, and serve garnished with the luganega and the red wine reduction.
Recommended wine:
a good Barbera, even a lively one, from Oltrepo’ Pavese
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