Risotto

Accompany the risotto with a lettuce and radicchio salad, and pass a basket of poppy-seed breadsticks. A strawberry tart would be a nice way to end the meal. See how to finely chop herbs.

A rich, earthy first course or side dish.

Start this meatless meal with artichokes filled with a lemon mayonnaise for dipping, and serve the risotto with a mixed green and cherry tomato salad and a basket of toasted herb bread. To polish things off, set out a purchased raspberry tart.

Suitable accompaniments to this risotto-like dish are crusty bread, an avocado and orange salad with a cilantro vinaigrette and, to top it off, coconut pie.

Orzo—rice shaped pasta—is easier to find than Arborio rice (the traditional ingredient in risotto) and makes a delicious risotto-style side dish.

Risotto de Bulgour aux Pois et Asperges At the restaurant, this is made with spelt, a chewy grain that requires much longer cooking than does the more readily available bulgur called for here.

Arugula adds zip to this creamy risotto.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Saffron Risotto An Italian classic, traditionally served with Osso Buco , this dish also makes a great accompaniment to the Whole Red Snapper Baked in a Salt Crust .

The bold flavors of Spain's famous paella-sausage, seafood and saffron-meet the luscious, creamy texture of Italy's risotto in this beautiful rice dish. Pour a chilled dry white wine during dinner, and offer flan for dessert.

Hoppin' John is a traditional southern dish of black-eyed peas and salt pork served with rice. Here, it's a risotto dotted with black-eyed peas and flavored with bacon and pancetta. This is an unconventional method for making risotto — rather than slowly adding hot stock to the rice, Rollins adds it, unheated, in just 2 batches. This will allow you more time for preparing the chops that go along with it.