A simple slogan summing up the qualities of Tilda’s Arborio rice won Dez Turland, group development chef for Brend Hotels, the opportunity to witness at first hand the art of making risotto Italian style. Turland, who is based at The Saunton Sands Hotel in North Devon, brings his team together twice a year to thrash out new ideas for menus and food provenance is high on his list of priorities. So the trip to Italy to get a specialist’s take on making risotto appealed to him and, while he already has the dish on his menus, he was eager to learn new methods of cooking it.

Accompanied by Tilda’s Mark Lyddy, Roberto La Francesca and John Moore, Turland was whizzed to Lake Garda to meet Italian expert Andrea Messini, who with his wife Lara offer visitors a chance to learn a range of Italian cooking skills at their restaurant, Le Gemme di Artemisia.

The couple took seven years to realise their dream of having a restaurant cum cookery school. While they worked in Europe, it came together piece by piece to their specific design, with dining areas on two levels offering seating for up to 30 diners and a compact kitchen/demo area. With Andrea in the kitchen and Lara front of house, it has evolved over the last three years into the business they wanted, specialising in exclusive dining occasions and attracting people worldwide who want to learn more about cooking Italian dishes such as pasta and risotto.

They demonstrated four dishes using the Italian rice Arborio as well as basmati which included: deep fried saffron risotto balls with tomato and thyme sauce; risotto with pumpkin and black truffle; pan fried cannelloni pasta filled with liquorice risotto, walnuts and ricotta cheese served with hot chocolate sauce; and a basmati rice timbale with broccoli purée, pan fried porcini and smoked ricotta.

Andrea Messini says few people know how to make a real risotto and that the secret was to keep things simple and not use too many ingredients. A chef should also have at least three types of rice, he says. “Some work better for different risottos but blind tested and the taste is very similar. Arborio you cook longer and it can be used all the time. You can make a good pilaf with Carnaroli and Riso Vialone Nano but if you make a mistake with the latter, it’s noticeable. This rice isn’t grown as much as the others and is mainly used in restaurants in Italy. The favourites are Arborio and Carnaroli.” The preferred size for risotto is “semi fino”, which means shorter and fatter grains, he adds.

He describes Arborio and Carnaroli as “brothers but not twins”. “Arborio needs an extra minute to cook compared with Carnaroli. The latter is thinner but the difference is subtle and both give a good result.”

He also dispels the myth that says you have to watch and stir this rice all the time while it cooks. “We teach the technique of making risotto without stirring it. Most people think of the old fashioned way of cooking and stirring all the time. When you add stock you should concentrate on how much of that you are using, not the time,” he explains. “This special technique means you can leave it. All the ingredients are only added at the end.”

His love of local ingredients includes using Italian truffles, cheese and olive oil. For pumpkin and truffle risotto, butter and oil, finely chopped onion, followed by diced pumpkin with just a little water, are left to soften in the pan.

He prefers to use a natural vegetable stock, which needs to boil for no more than 15 minutes. Using double the amount of rice to stock – three ladles of rice to six of stock for example, the rice is put on to simmer. “You don’t want to burn it – if you do that, it crystallises and doesn’t absorb so much liquid,” he says.

“Only after 13 minutes check to see how thirsty the rice is, but it won’t stick as it is undisturbed. When it comes off the stove, you could add perhaps a little cheese or butter to make the rice creamier – but definitely no cheese on top.”

He says just the cheese and the starch from the rice will make it creamy, and the starch in the grains will hold the risotto balls firm.

If the consistency of the rice is right they will naturally hold their shape, he says, and you wouldn’t need anything else to keep it together although chefs could use breadcrumbs. To cool mixtures down, he recommends pouring it on to a surface like granite or marble and spreading it out but, he says, never put it into the fridge because the grain hardens – a reaction Lyddy says is called starch retro-gradation.

Even the way risotto is served is crucial. Messini says it should be served flat rather than as a round as it keeps the taste level and the temperature the same throughout.

Smoked ricotta and taleggio are typical of the Italian cheese Messini uses. “Taleggio cheese is beautiful with risotto – smooth and creamy, but you could use any cheese as long as it’s soft.” With the risotto ball, cheese was put inside before being lightly coated in fine flour then egg, and dipping into breadcrumbs before frying it.

Just days after Turland’s return from Italy, he used the knowledge he gained to carry out a demo using Tilda Arborio to make risotto in front of a live audience at the North Devon Foodfest in Barnstaple. “I taught them how to make the perfect pumpkin and truffle risotto as shown by Andrea, putting to bed the notion of standing there and stirring non stop.

“Andrea and Lara are two fascinating people who have developed an outstanding idea, where they can teach people the importance of local, seasonal produce, turning it into a great balance of flavours, textures and stunning presentation. I’ve already contacted them and hope to repay their hospitality by inviting them to Saunton Sands Hotel, and to maybe do a master class for some of our young chefs here in Brend Hotels.”