The Amarone wine or as it is officially named, Amarone della Valpolicella, is an Italian DOCG denomination: it’s an extraordinary wine, proudly made in Verona, and it’s the perfect ingredient for the incredibly exquisite Amarone wine risotto.
The traditional recipe
This recipe is a classic of our Region, Veneto, where Verona sits.
The Amarone Wine Risotto is one of the most famous and loved dishes of the Verona culinary tradition. In the recipe you will find two of the most important products from Verona:
- the Amarone wine DOCG
- the Vialone Nano Veronese IGP rice
It is an easy preparation and the result will astonish your guests, as long as you will use high quality ingredients.
Ingredients
- 320 gr Vialone Nano IGP rice
- 350 ml Amarone Valpolicella wine DOCG
- 1 onion (or shallot, if you prefer a more delicate flavor)
- 30 gr butter (the tradition indicates to use the beef bone marrow, or alternatively EVO)
- 1 leaf of laurel oak
- 1 liter beef broth
- 20 gr butter for the final sauteing
- 60 gr aged Monte Veronese cheese (or alternatively parmesan cheese)
- salt
- pepper
Instructions
Finely slice the onion and sauté with butter and the laurel leaf.
Take out the leaf and add the rice. Let the rice toast for a few minutes over low heat, keep stirring.
Pour in the wine until it is fully absorbed. Add salt and pepper, and 1/2 cup of broth to the rice, and stir - with a wooden spoon - until the broth is absorbed. Continue adding broth 1/2 cup at a time, stirring continuously, until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is "al dente".
Remove from the heat, add butter and parmesan cheese to sauté until the rice reaches a creamy consistency (in Italian this part is called "mantecare"). Let the rice rest for a minute before serving.
Notes
If you want a richer flavor, add sausage, radicchio, or squash. If you want a fancier preparation, once the rice is done, add some parmesan wafers (here the recipe).
The Amarone Wine from Valpolicella
The Amarone della Valpolicella is the most refined wine from the Veneto Region, and among the most important Italian red wine.
Wine is sunlight, held together by water.
Galileo Galilei
The story says that the Amarone Wine was born from a mistake, when a Recioto Amaro (bitter) wine was forgotten in the barrels for more time than usual.
They say that, when they sipped it, they found a pleasant surprise, not only bitter, but incredibly dry, velvety and rich, with very slightly sweet and nutty flavors.
The Amarone comes from the selection of the ripest Corvina and Rondinella grapes. They leave them to dry for several weeks in special temperature-controlled rooms, called “fruttai“, located on up the hills, to get the optimal conditions to let the water evaporate from the grapes in a low temperature. The grapes rest for 4 months, and at the end of this period they lose 30%-35% of their original weight, so the fragrances and the colors get condensed. The raisins that remain are pressed and fermented to dryness, usually during the month of February, and starting in September, the wine rests in the oak barrels for years.
The color is intense, ruby red. The wine has flavors of chocolate, molasses, vanilla, along with cherry liqueur, nuts, cinnamon, nutmeg, leather, and tobacco.
The Amarone is perfect with meat dishes, game, aged cheese, but also as the main ingredient for the preparation of excellent dishes.
The Amarone shines also by itself, lonely, as a meditation wine.
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Ciao!
Martina and Elisa
