Risotto alla Valdostana — Risotto with Fontina and White Truffle

Ingredients

• 320 g Carnaroli rice
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 60 g unsalted butter, cold, cut into small cubes; divided — half for soffritto, half for mantecatura
• 120 ml Blanc de Morgex et de la Vallée, dry white wine; a mineral-character dry white wine may substitute
• 1.2 litres meat broth, good quality, kept at a bare simmer throughout
• 180 g Fontina d'Aosta DOP, rind removed, cut into small cubes; alpeggio production preferred
• Optional — autumn service only
• 1 white truffle, brushed clean; shaved at the table to order

Method

1. 1
   Warm the meat broth in a separate saucepan and hold it at a bare simmer throughout cooking; it must never be cold when it enters the rice. Melt half the butter in a wide, heavy saucepan over a moderate flame. Add the shallot and soften without colour until it is translucent and yielding — 3 to 4 minutes.
2. 2
   Add the Carnaroli rice to the pan and toast, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Each grain must be coated in butter and turn faintly translucent at its edges while the centre remains opaque — this is visible at the rim of each grain.
3. 3
   Pour in the Blanc de Morgex. Stir without pause until the wine is fully absorbed and no liquid pools at the base of the pan — the sharp mineral scent of the wine will subside as it cooks off.
4. 4
   Add the hot broth one ladle at a time, stirring continuously and adding the next ladle only when the previous is fully absorbed. Continue for 18 to 20 minutes. The rice is ready when it is al dente at its heart — firm but without a chalky, raw centre — and the preparation moves as a single slow mass when the pan is shaken.
5. 5
   Remove the pan from the heat entirely. This is the mantecatura — the step on which the dish lives or dies. Add the remaining cold butter cubes and all of the cubed Fontina d'Aosta DOP at once. Stir vigorously and without pause for 2 to 3 minutes: the Fontina must melt completely into the rice off the heat; on the heat it will seize and become grainy. The finished risotto must move as a wave — all'onda — when the pan is tilted: fluid, silky, and faintly stringy from the Fontina. Cover and rest for 1 minute.
6. 6
   Serve immediately on warm plates. If white truffle is in season, shave it directly over each plate at the table — the heat of the rice releases its fragrance at once.