Our Italian culinary journey is taking us to Milan and Treviso today. The main ingredients for my winter risotto with radicchio, salsiccia, and scamorza are from those cities.
Milan is very proud of its risotto Milanese: rice with saffron and bone marrow. Risotto is popular not only in Milan but also in the whole northern part of Italy, especially around the Po river, as that is where rice grows up. Arborio*, Carnaroli and Vialone are the perfect types of rice* for making a creamy typical Italian risotto.
I especially love Risotto with Radicchio, smoked Scamorza cheese, and Italian sausage. Let me explain to you more about those ingredients.
- RADICCHIO DI TREVISO: Radicchio is a leaf chicory and comes in many varieties in Italy. Today we are using the one from Treviso, it is slightly bitter and has a gorgeous dark red-purple color. The leaves curl up on the top. It is in season right now, as it has to be “frozen” (temperature below 0 C) at least twice before harvesting. This guarantees the typical mildly bitter taste and the beautiful color.
- SCAMORZA AFFUMICATA: this pear-shaped cow milk cheese comes from southern Italy. It is now widely available. I like the almond color, smoked one. It tastes amazing also on bruschetta!
- SALSICCIA: Italian sausage, usually grilled or de-cased and cooked. Mostly made of pork and varies in taste depending on the region. The southern Italy version is usually spicy (red chilis), the central regions use pepper and herbs like fennel and in northern Italy, it is milder in flavor. In this risotto, I opted for the northern one, as not to overpower the other flavors.
[cooked-recipe id=”2684″]
We are almost at the end of our culinary journey through Italy. What did you like best? The healthy Spinach and Ricotta Quiche? Or one of the 5 different Tiramisu recipes? Check out all my recipes from my home country here!
Come back next week, I have something special and very festive for you!
Remember to subscribe to my newsletter, this way you won’t miss the next recipes, I will be sending them to you for free!
*affiliate link: this post contains affiliate links, meaning I recommend products I’ve used and may receive a commission if you purchase them too (at no additional cost to you).