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1
Melt half the butter in a wide, heavy-based pan over medium heat. Add the onion and sweat without colour until soft and translucent, so that no raw sharpness from the onion carries into the finished risotto. The onion must give no resistance to the back of a spoon.
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2
Add the Carnaroli rice and stir to coat every grain in the butter, toasting briefly until the edges of the grains turn opaque — this builds a light shell around each grain so it absorbs stock gradually and holds its shape through the long cook. Pour in the white wine and stir until it has been fully absorbed and no raw alcohol is detectable on the nose.
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3
Begin adding the hot stock one ladle at a time, stirring steadily and allowing each addition to be absorbed before the next, because a continuous gentle abrasion coaxes the starch from the grain's surface to build the creamy binding the dish depends on. Maintain a vigorous simmer and continue until the rice is cooked through but retains a very slight resistance at the core — approximately 16 to 18 minutes in total.
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4
This is where the dish lives or dies. Remove the pan from the heat entirely, then add the remaining cold butter cubes and the mascarpone so they melt into the rice slowly and evenly rather than splitting on a hot surface, followed by 120 g of the Gorgonzola piccante broken into pieces. Fold vigorously but without over-working: the result must be all'onda — fluid enough to flow in a slow wave when the pan is tilted — silky and uniform, not gummy or stringy, for over-stirring at this stage creates a broken texture that cannot be corrected.
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5
Plate immediately into four warmed shallow bowls, setting one reserved piece of Gorgonzola piccante on top of each portion so it melts gradually from the residual heat of the risotto rather than collapsing into it in the kitchen. Carry to the table at once; the cheese will be perfectly softened within two to three minutes of service.
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6
Scatter the hand-broken raw walnuts over each bowl at the moment of service and drizzle acacia honey lightly. The walnuts must not be added earlier — heat dulls their milky fat and destroys the textural contrast that is the purpose of their presence.