Risotto di gò — Venezia, Veneto

Risotto di gò belongs to the Venetian lagoon and the northern Adriatic, where the ghiozzo, known in dialect as gò, is a small fish of the family Gobiidae; the lagoon species most associated with the dish is the Zosterisessor ophiocephalus. It is one of the old rice dishes of Venice and the Veneto, built on a fish that is too small and bony to serve whole and is therefore given over to the pot. A large quantity of the little fish is needed to make a broth of any concentration, and the dish is carried by the households and trattorie of the lagoon.

Risotto di gò is Venetian risotto made with rice cooked in a broth drawn from ghiozzo, the small goby of the lagoon (Zosterisessor ophiocephalus). The fish are simmered whole, the meat is flaked from the bones, and the broth is kept apart for the rice. A soffritto of onion and celery is softened in olive oil and moistened with dry white wine, the flaked meat is stirred in, and the rice is cooked by gradual additions of the broth. The risotto is finished with chopped parsley and a thread of olive oil.

Gobies produce a broth of extraordinary depth and concentration despite their tiny size—intensely marine with an almost bisque-like richness. The soffritto and wine provide aromatic structure while parsley keeps the heavy broth from becoming ponderous.