Boiled Rice with Parmesan, Mozzarella, and Basil (Pomodori e Vino)

About Beth

Beth, along with her husband, Mike, is co-owner of two Italian Deli/Markets in St. Louis - Viviano’s Festa Italiano. When not creating yummy new menu items for the deli, she’s the pediatric research lab supervisor at Washington University School of Medicine. Read more out about Viviano’s Festa Italiano.

About Irene

Irene loves to think, read and dream about food. She enjoys cooking & eating in general. Although she demures about her talents, Irene has a finely-tuned palate that her friends envy. She bakes on occasion. The rest of the time she's creating memories with her family and friends. . . or she's learning a new needlecraft technique.

About Deborah

Deborah is a wife, mother, grandmother, traveler, bootlegger, and a very poor speller! As Victor Hazan so eloquently puts it, Deborah has chosen Umbria to be the home of her soul. When she can’t be there in body, she spends her free time cooking & reading about Italy. She blogs mostly about food and about trips – past and future – here: Old Shoes New Trip.

About Doug

Doug lives in Eastern Ontario in a farmhouse built in 1903. He is a retired teacher with four adult children, a wife, a son-in-law, two Irish step-grandchildren and one grandson who he is lucky to hang with a lot. He has way too many books. Doug also blogs at To Slow Time Down.

About Cindy

Cindy lives in Eagle River, Alaska where her freezer is always full of salmon, halibut & shrimp. Cindy participates in several regular cooking challenges. You can read more about her cooking and life in the last frontier on her blog, Baked Alaska.

About Sandi

Sandi is a true Southerner, but a traveler & Italian cook at heart. She lives in Alabama and knows more about fried green tomatoes than fricassees. Her family owned the WhistleStop Café for many years. Sandi also blogs at Whistlestop Cafe Cooking.

About Jan

Jan, a serious home cook, has owned “Essentials” since 1992. She is passionate about all things Italian, especially the cuisine & the language. Jan blogs about her travels (next trip Italy May/June of 2010) at: Keep your Feet in the Street.

About Jerry

Jerry is a food obsessed Canadian. He learned to love Italian food as a child while eating the meals prepared by his Napolitano uncle. He learned to cook Italian foods by watching his uncle cook these feasts for the family. This love of Italian food has been honed through serious personal experimentation in eating and cooking. Willing to try most anything once, Jerry isn't so sure about tripe! Jerry also blogs at Jerry's Thoughts, Musings, and Rants!

About Palma

Palma is a Marriage & Family Therapist in Palm Desert, CA. She’s an Italian-American with a passion for cooking, entertaining, & travel to Italy. She’s always planning her next culinary adventure to Italia on her blog, Palmabella's Passions

About Kim

Kim is our permanent sub and the image above gives you a good idea of the look on her face when she realized she was drafted. Kim loves to eat, drink, travel and cook - probably in that order. When she's not here, you can find her organizing and leading food, wine and beer tours in Europe as co-owner and operator of GrapeHops or blogging at What I Really Think.

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Boiled Rice with Parmesan, Mozzarella, and Basil

Today is the last recipe in the Risotto chapter of Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. This recipe is a rice recipe, not a risotto. But what a great way to end the chapter. If you like gooey cheese and rice, you'll love this dish. What comfort food. For this recipe, you boil rice in water. When al dente, you place it in a warm bowl and add shredded mozzarella cheese and stir. The heat from the rice makes a gooey stringy concoction. You then add grated Parmesan cheese, stir, then add butter and shredded basil leaves, and stir again.

Here's a picture of the serving bowl. Makes you want to curl up in your pj's in front of the fireplace with a bowl of this in one hand and a glass of wine in the other, doesn't it?

Posted to 4. Thursday - Cindy | Risotto by Cindy Ruth on August 5, 2010 1:22 AM
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Comments (6)

Anonymous:

great photos, Cindy!

Posted by Anonymous | August 5, 2010 9:16 AM

Posted on August 5, 2010 09:16

Deborah:

Cindy, in answer to the question in your last sentence...YES!

Posted by Deborah | August 5, 2010 10:59 AM

Posted on August 5, 2010 10:59

Palma :

What a GREAT photo!!!

Posted by Palma | August 5, 2010 11:14 AM

Posted on August 5, 2010 11:14

Marcella Hazan:

My dear Cindy, you are as good with a camera as with a stirring spoon. Your photograph really transmits the feeling that one can experience when one has this dish. In our house it is a great comforter, we have it when we are out of sorts with our work, with the world, with ourselves, and lack the desire to eat anything else.

Boiled rice is unbeatable for lifting spirits, but of course it must be dressed up in the Italian style. We have it also without mozzarella, adding to the hot, boiled rice sitting on a little puddle of its cooking liquid lots of salted butter, lots of grated parmesan, Victor performs his tossing trick, we may add a little grated nutmeg or black pepper, and we are ready to be made well again.

I am so glad you are in tune with this kind of cooking.

Posted by Marcella Hazan | August 5, 2010 7:08 PM

Posted on August 5, 2010 19:08

Susie L:

Cindy, I have never tried this, it looks amazing. Love your bowl and place mats, so elegant and understated, it allows this dish to be the star.

Posted by Susie L | August 6, 2010 1:31 PM

Posted on August 6, 2010 13:31

Irene:

WOW!

Posted by Irene | August 8, 2010 9:35 PM

Posted on August 8, 2010 21:35