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Chestnut Risotto

Chestnut Risotto - Level 1

Cooking Recommendation

Abstract

This recipe produces a risotto that has been described as "yummy". Because of its heavy dependency on chestnuts, it is seasonable for December. Serves 4.

Status of this Document

This section describes the status of this recipe at the time of its publication. Other recipes may supersede this recipe, specially if it doesn't taste as good as it could.

Conformance

All diagrams, examples, and notes in this specification are non-normative, as are all sections explicitly marked non-normative. Everything else in this specification is normative. The keywords MUST, MUST NOT, SHOULD, RECOMMENDED, MAY, OPTIONAL, and DON'T FUCKING DO THAT in this recipe are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119].

Only three classes of product can claim conformance to this specification: a cook, a happy human, and the risotto.

Dependencies

The following is the list of ingredients needed to implement the risotto.

For risotto:

  • 250g risotto rice.
  • 50g of butter.
  • 500g of leaks, white part only - finely sliced.
  • 1 litre of vegetable stock.
  • 150ml of (dry) white wine.
  • a teaspoon of butter.
  • Salt and pepper

Non-normative note: if you don't have enough leeks, you can use a finely chopped onion or two.

The dependencies for the chestnutty goodness that goes on top:

  • 20g of butter.
  • 200g of freshly oven roasted peeled chestnuts (you probably need about 600g unpeeled).
  • a few sprigs of fresh thyme (leaves only, finely chopped).
  • a pinch of salt.

Implementing the risotto

To cook the risotto, a cook MUST initially run the algorithm for roasting the chestnuts and then the algorithm for cooking the risotto, and then, as the risotto is coming together, run the algorithm to implement the chestnutty goodness that goes on top.

Roasting the chestnuts

The following steps represent the algorithm for roasting the chestnuts:

  1. Make a cut in each chestnut so they are easy to peel.
  2. Preheat the oven to "very hot" (220-250c).
  3. Place chestnuts in oven for 15-20mins.
  4. Peel enough chestnuts to make 200g.
  5. Roughly chop chestnuts and put into food processor.
  6. Process chestnuts to create fairly large crumbs (i.e., you don't want them too small or pasty, but big enough to give good texture).

Algorithm for cooking risotto

The following steps represent the algorithm for cooking the risotto:

  1. Optionally, asynchronously, run the algorithm for cooking the chestnuts (this is to prevent the chestnuts from drying out and becoming hard). Once the oven is hot, and the chestnuts are in the oven, continue.
  2. Melt the butter in a good size pan until bubbling.
  3. Add leeks and mix together with butter so the leeks are all buttery and delicious.
  4. Cover the pan, and turn down the heat to minimum.
  5. Now sweat the leeks for about 20 minutes - stirring every 5mins of so - until they are wonderfully soft.
  6. Add rice and let it soak up some of the leeky goodness (about 1 min).
  7. Add the wine and let the rice do its magic soaking everything up.
  8. Once the wine is absorbed, start adding stock.
  9. Asynchronously, run the algorithm to prepare the chestnutty goodness that goes on top.
  10. The risotto should be coming together now - season to taste with salt and pepper. Optionally, if after using all the stock the rice is still a bit crunchy, add a little more water.
  11. Once the risotto is done (can only be determined by taste), add a teaspoon of butter onto and put the lid on.
  12. Turn off the heat and rest the risotto for 5 minutes. This cools it down a little bit and lets it come together a little more.
  13. Once the 5 mins are up, gently stir in the butter that was on top.
  14. Plate the risotto and sprinkle the crumbly delicious chestnuts on top.
  15. Serve to hungry humans.

Algorithm to prepare the chestnutty goodness that goes on top

The following steps define the algorithm to prepare the chestnutty goodness that goes on top:

  1. Melt the 20g of butter in a pan over medium heat.
  2. Once the butter is bubbling happily, turn up the heat a bit and throw in the chestnut crumbs.
  3. Toss in the butter and get them all nice and buttery.
  4. Add the thyme and the salt and continue cooking for about 2-4 minutes (depending how you like them).
  5. Once they are golden and delicious, set them aside and cover them so they don't dry out.

Reference implementation

A reference implementation is shown below.

What the risotto looks like when you is done!

References

[RFC2119]
Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels, Scott Bradner. IETF.
[River]
River Cottage: Veg Everyday. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. 2011.
@bluesmoon
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Not sure how to send pull requests to a gist, but I've found that the best method of roasting chestnuts does not require roasting. Make the slit as usual, then boil in salted water for 20 minutes and then peel. You can finish it off under the broiler to give it a crunch and some browning.

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