Serves 8

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 2 ½ cups chicken stock
• 1 ½ cups water
• 2 cups red Zinfandel wine
• 2 cups vialone nano or arborio rice
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• Freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
• 1 small head radicchio, halved and cut into thin strips
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Procedure

1. Heat the olive oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, 10 minutes.
2. In the meantime, combine the chicken stock and water in a saucepan and bring to just below a simmer on the back burner of the stove. In another saucepan, warm the wine to just below a simmer.
3. Add the rice to the onions and stir until it is very hot, just beginning to stick to the bottom of the pan, and completely coated with oil, 2 to 3 minutes. Add 2 ladlefuls of hot red wine and stir constantly until the wine is almost absorbed. Add a ladleful of chicken broth and stir steadily to keep the rice from sticking. Continue to add the broth a little at a time, stirring until it is absorbed. Then continue with the wine. Continue to add the wine until the rice is at the chalkly stage, 18 - 22 minutes. Then continue to add wine and stir for an additional 2 minutes, until it is just beyond the chalky stage. (If you run out of red wine, use hot water.
4. Remove the pan from the heat, and add another ladleful of red wine or water. Add the butter, nutmeg to taste, ½ cup of the Parmigiano, the radicchio, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir quickly. Cover and let sit, off the heat, for 5 minutes.
5. Stir the risotto and scatter with Parmigiano. Serve immediately with more Parmigiano on the side.

Reprinted with permission from Joanne Weir. Original recipe from Joanne Weir's: More Cooking in the Wine Country: 150 New Recipes for Living and Entertaining.