RECIPE: Indiana Sweet Corn Risotto

Risotto can feel intimidating for a dinner party as making it can require a lot of time close to the stove—monitoring, stirring, and testing (all the things that you want to avoid while entertaining) until you learn that it’s one of the easiest make-ahead dishes out there. Risotto works beautifully if cooked until JUST a touch firmer than al dente, cooled, and popped in the fridge up to a week (!) before your party. Right before serving, reheat the rice on the stovetop with a little extra broth to bring it back to life, and—the real trick—fold in plain whipped cream to the dish. This creates an ethereal, creamy dish that goes from stove to table in less than 10 minutes of dinner party time. 

Serves 8–10, easily halved for a smaller group

Adapted from NYTimes Cooking

Ingredients

To parcook:

12 cups vegetable or chicken stock

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 leeks, dark green tops discarded, finely chopped

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

2 cups arborio rice

1 cup dry white wine

To heat and serve:

Raw corn kernels from 4–5 ears of corn (about 3 cups, but more is fine!)

2 cups parmesan cheese, grated on the small hole side of a box grater

1 cup heavy cream

¼ cup minced chives

Method

Add the chicken or vegetable stock to a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer; you’ll want this to stay hot while you make the dish. Pull out a wide vessel—a quarter or half sheet pan is perfect—and set aside. This is to spread the hot parcooked rice onto to quickly cool it off; you’ll want it ready to roll. 

Melt the butter in a large high-sided sauté pan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the chopped leeks and cook slowly, adjusting heat as needed, until leeks are softened but not browned. Season with salt and pepper. Add rice to the mixture and cook, stirring to coat with butter and leeks until the edges of the rice grains are translucent. 

Pour in white wine and stir until absorbed by the rice. Add a ladleful of that simmering stock you have ready to go and stir until the rice has absorbed all of the stock. Continue cooking, adding another ladleful of stock to the rice, allowing it to absorb, and repeating until the rice is not quite cooked through. Take a bite of the rice—it should be starting to get tender but still have a chalky raw center to it. Once you’ve reached that point, quickly transfer the rice to the sheet pan and spread it out in an even layer to quickly and evenly cool and stop any carryover cooking. Give the rice a few stirs to help quicken the cooling. Once it comes to room temperature, transfer the parcooked risotto to sealed containers (takeout containers work perfectly for this). Keep it in the fridge for up to a week. Reserve and refrigerate the remaining stock. 

When you are ready to serve, heat the remaining stock in a small saucepan and add the rice and 1 cup of the reserved broth to the Dutch oven or sauté pan you originally cooked it in. Slowly warm the risotto over medium heat, adding in a few ladlefuls of stock and stirring the whole time. Test the risotto for doneness: You want the rice to be tender but still have a little bite. Add the raw corn kernels, stirring to warm and cook through (this will take only a minute).  Remove risotto from the heat, then stir in parmesan cheese and 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter. Let sit covered for 5 minutes. 

While risotto is resting, use an electric mixer or hand mixer to beat cream at high speed until it holds stiff peaks. Uncover the risotto, add half of the chives, and stir the rice vigorously. Gently fold in the whipped cream. Top with additional chives and parmesan cheese if desired. Serve!