Artichoke risotto, my grandmother’s recipe without broth. Today we prepare artichoke risotto with my grandmother’s recipe for a creamy risotto without butter — truly delicious. It may seem strange, but when my grandmother cooked risotto she almost always used boiling water instead of bouillon or broth, often substituting extra virgin olive oil for butter and despite that she made spectacular risottos. Her dishes always followed the seasons and when artichokes were in season they never missed the table, so she would prepare artichoke omelettes, pasta with artichokes, meat main courses with artichokes and a creamy artichoke risotto as simple as it was tasty, without broth and without butter.
I know it sounds odd that with so many “withouts” a dish could still be good, but trust me — my grandma’s creamy artichoke risotto was really delicious! Let’s go to the kitchen, I’ll tell you the recipe, but first a reminder: if you want to stay updated on my recipes you can follow my Facebook page and my Instagram profile.
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- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very inexpensive
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 5
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Winter, Spring
Ingredients to make artichoke risotto without broth
- 6 artichoke hearts (fresh)
- 2 onions (medium)
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
- 3 1/3 tbsp white wine (optional)
- 2 1/4 cups Carnaroli rice (or rice for risottos)
- 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- to taste salt
- 5 cups boiling water (hot)
Tools
- Bowl
- Knife
- Pot
- Blender
- Wooden spoons
How to make my grandmother’s artichoke risotto
Let’s start by discovering how to clean the artichoke hearts:
Fill a large bowl with room-temperature water and add some white vinegar or lemon juice; the acidity will prevent the artichokes from browning. Likewise, if you don’t have gloves, pour a little on your hands and rub them — repeating this step often will keep your skin clear without dark stains. Rinse the artichokes under running water, choose the tender ones that still look like a closed bud. Remove the outer leaves, cut off the stem and peel it thoroughly. Then cut off the top of the flower and remove only the heart.
Cut the heart in half and remove the fuzzy choke.
As you proceed, collect the hearts in the bowl with the acidulated water, then slice them thinly.
Peel, rinse and chop the onion, let it soften over medium heat for about 7 minutes, then add the drained artichoke hearts, salt and wait for them to brown and soften, which will take about 10 minutes.
Set aside half of them and blend with a little water to obtain a cream.
Add the rice to the remaining artichokes and toast it for a couple of minutes over high heat, stirring constantly.
Cook the risotto by adding boiling water little by little each time the previous addition has been absorbed, adjusting salt as needed.
When the grains are al dente, stir in the artichoke cream, mix, turn off the heat and, off the heat, add the grated cheese.
Stir to cream it and serve immediately — the risotto is ready to enjoy.
I recommend preparing only the amount of rice you intend to eat; if you have leftovers you can store them in the fridge and consume within 24 hours, perhaps preparing a rice cake with leftover risotto or a pastry filled with leftover risotto.
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