Whenever I am at an Italian restaurant I always check to see if they have risotto on the menu –one of my favorite Italian dishes. So I was very happy to see risotto scallopini as a special of the night. Most places make their risotto by adding cream to shorten the time to make the risotto and still try to get the taste of real risotto – but Ziti’s makes it the right way – by slowly cooking the rice in a nice broth until it reaches a creamy consistency. Being a person with lactose intolerance, cooking the risotto the traditional way allows me to really enjoy one of my favorite dishes.
The plate came heaping with a plate full of lightly colored risotto with bits of chicken, pancetta and mushrooms mixed within the rice. It was quite a large portion which meant leftovers for the next day for me. Overall the presentation could have had a little bit more color to it – very muted in color but had a good amount of sliced chicken, pancetta and mushrooms to visually be a pleasing meal. The chicken was white meat that was tender to the fork and went well with the creaminess of the rice. Who doesn’t love pancetta – it brings a nice crunch to a dish and nice slightly salty taste to a dish – in this dish though I wish the pancetta was crisper as that would helped with the visual eye as well as that extra crunch to finish the taste.
Overall this risotto dish did not disappoint – very authentic in taste! -MM
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The risotto arrived at the table and I was impressed with its size. As risotto is usually a heavy dish, I knew it would be more than enough for leftovers. There were large chunks of sauteed chicken breast throughout the dish as well as a good amount of mushrooms (crimini? definitely not the typical white variety) and pancetta. The rice did not appear to be usual Arborio rice that one finds in a risotto, but its texture worked in this recipe. Upon taking my first bite, I was impressed with the flavor in the dish – the wine sauce was evident and delicious. Overall, this dish was a good one. It could have been improved by a longer cooking time for the pancetta to crisp it up and give the dish some texture, but the tender chicken and the flavorful wine sauce compensated for this minor shortfall. -JM
Reviewed at Ziti’s Italian Trattoria.