Roman grain risotto "Marca Treviso" with emmer rice, artichoke, radicchio di Treviso and Taleggio red cheese

Ingredients for 2 servings:

• Olive oil for frying
• 1 onion(s), finely chopped
• 1 clove(s) garlic, finely chopped
• 1 ½ cup(s) emmer (emmer rice) or regular emmer, see note in text
• n. B. Red wine (preferably regional Raboso)
• ½ radicchio (preferably Radicchio di Treviso), cut into short strips
• 150 g artichoke hearts, finely chopped
• e.g. vegetable broth
• 50 g blue cheese (Talleggio red cheese), finely sliced
• e.g. butter flakes
• n. B. Herbs, fresh, according to season

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Rest time approx. 10 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 30 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 10 minutes

A dish that might have been eaten in the region 2,000 years ago.

Finely chop the garlic and onion and sauté. Then add emmer rice (a grain milled like rice) or regular emmer (not milled like rice, but soaked overnight) and toast briefly. Finally, deglaze with red wine. Add the radicchio, cut into short strips, and the finely chopped artichoke hearts. Stir continuously until the liquid has reduced. Then, with a ladle, add a little more stock and reduce, stirring constantly, until the emmer rice or regular emmer has the consistency you like best. When the grains have reached the desired consistency, remove the grain risotto from the heat. Stir in finely chopped Taleggio red cheese and butter flakes. Season to taste, then cover and let rest for 10 minutes, which will make the grain risotto creamier. Finally, plate up, garnish with fresh seasonal herbs to taste, and serve. Best enjoyed with the remaining red wine. This is a dish that might have been eaten 2,000 years ago in the “Piana Rotaliana” wine-growing plain, in the very north of the Trentino section of the first European-connecting road across the Alps, the Via Claudia Augusta.