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Risi e Bisi (Rice and Peas Cooked in Pea-Pod Broth)

Name: Risi e Bisi (Rice and Peas Cooked in Pea-Pod Broth)
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 1 h 10 min
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 1.2 kg peas in the pod; 2 L water; 300 g vialone nano rice (or carnaroli); 1 onion; 50 g butter; 1 handful flat-leaf parsley; 50 g Parmigiano Reggiano; to taste salt and pepper

A Venetian spring rice dish. Peas bought in the pod are shelled, the pods boiled and strained into a broth, and that broth cooks vialone nano rice with the peas. It is looser than a risotto and thicker than a soup, eaten with a spoon.

Ingredients

4servings

Pod broth
peas in the pod · about 450g shelled1.2 kg
water2 L
Rice and peas
vialone nano rice (or carnaroli)300 g
onion · finely chopped1
butter · half kept for the end50 g
flat-leaf parsley · chopped1 handful
Parmigiano Reggiano · grated50 g
salt and pepper to taste

Steps

Shell the peas and keep them aside. Wash the pods and pull off the stalk ends and any tough strings.
⏲ 15 min
Put the pods in the 2L of water, half cover and boil 40 minutes. Strain through a sieve, pressing the pods with a ladle. Keep the broth hot over low heat.
⏲ 40 min
Melt half the butter in a wide pan and cook the onion without colour for 5 minutes. Add the peas and a ladle of broth and cook 3 minutes.
⏲ 8 min
Add the rice and stir 1 minute, then add the hot broth two or three ladles at a time, stirring now and then, for 16-18 minutes. Keep plenty of broth back for the end.
⏲ 18 min
Off the heat stir in the rest of the butter, the Parmigiano and the parsley. Season with salt and pepper and add more broth until it spreads slowly on the plate. Serve with a spoon.
⏲ 1 min

Variations

With frozen peas. With no pods, use a vegetable stock. The flavour is lighter.
Mame gohan. Japan has a similar spring custom of cooking rice with peas.

More detail and the reasons why (1)

With pancetta. Fry pancetta with the onion. This is the version in the photograph on this page. The traditional recipe deposited with the Venice chamber of commerce in 2013 leaves it out.

Tips

Buy the peas in the pod and shell them yourself. The pods are the broth.
Keep the pod broth hot.
Season at the end. No salt in the pod broth at the start (stocks and broths).
Serve it looser than risotto. It is eaten with a spoon.

More detail and the reasons why (2)

Why the broth is made from the pods. According to Italian Wikipedia, every part of the pea is used: the pods are cleaned, boiled in water for a fairly dense broth, strained and used to cook the peas and rice. The part a cook would throw away becomes the liquid the rice cooks in.
Between a risotto and a soup. The same article describes it as neither too thick nor too liquid, halfway between a risotto and a minestra. It is a step further in the direction risotto takes at the end, "to an 'all'onda' (flowing) consistency". The broth is kept hot for the reason risotto gives.