This risotto with caciocavallo and lemons makes a perfect first course or main dish – creamy yet light, filled with flavors and bright on the palatte. Risotto, caciocavallo podolico and limezza is a dish that chef Raffaele Lenzi – executive chef of the Michelin Star restaurant Il Sereno Al Lago, located inside the 5*L Il Sereno in Torno (CO) – proposes to celebrate a beautiful holiday meal this year.

The recipe was born out of executive Chef Raffaele Lenzi’s desire to unite two territories to which he is very close – Campania, where he was born, and Lombardy, where he established himself as a chef – represented by three products that have some connection with the holiday.

If rice and caciocavallo cheese are two of the main ingredients in Christmas gifts, lemon is a fruit very often used in the sweet recipes that are prepared at the end of the year for its ability to ‘lighten’ the other ingredients, giving them freshness and acidity.

Ingredients for 4 people

For the caciocavallo podolico cheese fondue

For the limezza powder

For the risotto

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Procedure

For the caciocavallo podolico cheese fondue

Heat cream and pepper to 62°C. Add the Caciocavallo Podolico cheese. Bring back to 62°C. Blend well with an immersion blender.

For the limezza powder

Slice the lemons very thinly and salt them to 2 percent of their weight. Place them in a vacuum and ferment for 10 days. Open the bags, spread all the contents on a baking sheet and dry in an oven at 50°C for 12 hours. Blend with a food processor to make a fine powder.

For the risotto

Toast the rice in a saucepan. Deglaze with white wine. Cover with hot vegetable broth. Cook for 13 to 14 minutes, adding broth as needed. At three-quarters of the way through cooking time, add half of the fondue and continue cooking. When the rice is finished cooking, toss with a drizzle of evo oil, the remaining fondue, and a generous grinding of black pepper. Spread the risotto on the plate and sprinkle with lemon powder.

Il Sereno al Lago