Exciting news Oregano
fans! This week marks the start of Sagre month! Sagre are Italian food
festivals and there are several particularly delicious ones which are happening
throughout May. To kick us off this week, we are starting with the Sagra del
Risotto. (And I'm sure you can guess what this one celebrates!)
Food festivals in
Italy normally coincide with the harvest time of a particular ingredient,
though sometimes they are odes to whole dishes, as is the case with the Risotto
festival.Held in Sessame in Piedmont on the first Sunday of May every year,
this fabulous food festival has been going on since the 13th century! This year
it is being held on the 3rd of May, and you can expect market stalls, music and
- you guessed it - lots of lovely risotto!
Risotto is one of
Northern Italy's finest dishes and is normally eaten on its own as a primo (the course between an appetiser
and a main course). For those of you who don't know, risotto is a rice dish
which is cooked in a broth until it reaches a creamy texture. Rice first came
to Italy with the Arabs in the Middle Ages. Turns out, the humid Meditteranean
climate is perfect for cooking short-grain rice, which is exactly what we use nowadays
in risotto. Risotto was officially created in Milan. During the 200-odd year
reign of the Spanish in Milan, rice dishes became something of a staple (which
explains the similarities of risotto and paella).Slow-cooking too was a common
cooking technique and so slow cooking+ rice+ regional spices led to Risotto
Alla Milanese.
And there you have
it! All you could ever want to know about risotto. Bet you understand now why
it has a whole festival dedicated to it! Fancy some risotto yourself? Why not pop
into see us at Oregano and try our Risotto
ai Porcini or Risotto ai Frutti di
Mare?
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