Risotto di Zucchine

Name: Risotto di Zucchine
Cuisine: Campanian
Ingredients: 320 g (1½ cups) Arborio rice; 600 g zucchini; 1 small onion; 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil; ½ cup (100 ml) dry white wine; 1 liter vegetable broth; 40 g Parmigiano; 20 g butter; Fresh basil; Salt and black pepper

The light risotto — zucchini cooked twice, half melting into the rice, the rest folded through at the end. Green, delicate, and proof that comfort food has a summer setting.

Risotto di zucchine — creamy risotto with zucchini pieces and basil in a ceramic bowl with grated Parmigiano

If the zucca risotto is autumn standing at the stove, this is its summer twin — same pot, same ladle, same patience, but green instead of orange and lighter on its feet. Zucchini were never optional in our kitchen in summer: they arrived in quantities that demanded a plan, and my mother had a plan for every stage of the week. Grilled, alla scapece, in the pasta of Nerano — and, when the rice came out, here.

The zucchini go in twice, and that is the whole intelligence of the dish. The first half cooks long with the onion, going soft and nearly dissolving, so the vegetable becomes part of the cream of the risotto itself. The rest goes in near the end, keeping a little bite and its green edges, so the finished bowl has both the flavor everywhere and the vegetable somewhere. A few basil leaves at the end, torn, never cut.

A zucchini is mostly water, and a risotto is an exercise in managing water. The dish works because the two problems solve each other.

The zucchini rule Small, firm zucchini — the smaller the better. The big ones are watery and bitter at the seeds, and this dish has nowhere to hide either fault. If the flowers come attached, tear them in at the very end with the basil.

Twice-added vegetables, one texture

Zucchini are over 90% water with delicate cell walls; long cooking collapses them into a purée that joins the starch released by the rice, thickening the risotto without cream. The late addition barely cooks — its cell walls stay intact, keeping turgor and a fresh, grassy note from volatile compounds that long cooking would have driven off. Two additions, two roles: body from the first, brightness from the second.

Risotto di Zucchine — step by step infographic, Mediterranean Notes by Giuseppe Astarita

Tap to enlarge — Risotto di zucchine: ingredienti, metodo, consigli

Recipe — Risotto di Zucchine

Serves 4 · About 30 minutes

320 g (1½ cups) Arborio rice
600 g zucchini small and firm, diced
1 small onion finely chopped
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
½ cup (100 ml) dry white wine
1 liter vegetable broth kept warm
40 g Parmigiano grated
20 g butter
Fresh basil a few leaves, torn
Salt and black pepper to taste

Wash and trim the zucchini, cut into small dice. Finely chop the onion.

Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil in a large pan, add the onion and half the zucchini, and cook over medium heat 5–6 minutes until soft — the zucchini should start to break down.

Add the rice and toast 1–2 minutes, stirring, until glossy and translucent at the edges.

Pour in the white wine and stir until almost completely evaporated.

Add the hot broth one ladle at a time, stirring often. After about 10 minutes, add the remaining zucchini so it finishes cooking with the rice but keeps some bite. Continue to 16–18 minutes total, until creamy and al dente.

Off the heat: butter, Parmigiano, torn basil. Stir hard until silky. Rest 1 minute and serve with black pepper and a thread of oil.

A little grated lemon zest in the mantecatura is not traditional and is very good.

The zucchini repertoire of a Campanian summer is its own small cuisine: grilled, fried and marinated, folded into spaghetti alla Nerano, scrambled with eggs in the pasta con zucchini e uova, and quietly at its most elegant here. And when the season turns and the market swaps green for orange, this exact pot makes the risotto di zucca.

Buon appetito — e zucchine piccole, mi raccomando.