Matteo Fronduti, chef of the restaurant Manna in Milan and Top Chef Italia winner, adds smoked stracciatella to risotto alla 'nduja – a process simple enough for home cooks.
Fronduti is not a chef who cooks delicately – he loves strong flavors and manages to strike a balance between them. He defines his food as "suburban cuisine" because his restaurant Manna is a Milanese gastro-bistro loved by haute cuisine enthusiasts seeking substance and surprise – as well as a check that stays below €50.
'Nduja and stracciatella
For this recipe, he mixes spicy Calabrian ‘nduja with risotto, northern Italy's most classic dish. A round, soft and fatty flavor, like that of stracciatella, is in order to balance the ’nduja's flavor and dilute its spiciness. Plus its cold temperature adds a fun textural contrast. The extra touch, the smoking, can be done in the oven. Fronduti says that smoky and spicy, are two "ancestral" flavors that always go well together, and he unites them in this dish.
Smoke the stracciatella
Fronduti smokes his own stracciatella with cherry wood shavings. At home, you can follow suit by using the oven as a smoker without a burning odor permeating your house. Separate the liquid part of the stracciatella from the solid part, the spun paste. Place the solid part on a large pan and slip it into the oven. On the bottom shelf, place a pan with cherry wood shavings. Ignite them, then extinguish and let them smoke. Close the oven and keep shut for around 6 minutes so that the cheese takes on the smokiness.
Risotto alla 'Nduja With Smoked Stracciatella
Photo: Michele Tabozzi
For the risotto:
10 oz. Rondolino “acquarello” carnaroli rice
1 stick butter
3 oz. Parmigiano Reggiano, grated
2 oz. of 'nduja di Spilinga
1 ½ tsp. of fine salt
2 liters of boiling water
For the garnish
4 oz. fresh stracciatella
Preparation
Place the rice with the salt in a saucepan on the stove. Toast until the grains are hot, then wet with boiling water to cover. Continue cooking by adding liquid as needed. Keep the rice al dente.
While the rice is cooking, smoke the stracciatella according to the above method. Set aside the soft liquidy parts to use for garnishing.
Once the rice is cooked, remove from the heat with stir (mantecare) with the butter and Parmigiano. If necessary, soften with hot water and add a teaspoon of white (coffee) vinegar to accentuate the acid note. Add the 'nduja.
Portion the rice into serving plates, garnish with the stracciatella liquid by tracing thin lines and place the smoked stracciatella in small pieces.