In Lazio, we are very far from the magnificent rice fields of Northern Italy. It is therefore not surprising that there are few rice recipes. We have many soups but few risottos. The nineteenth-century recipes mention the Risotto Classico with chicken giblets and then of the twentieth century there is another one mentioned by Pellegrino Artusi, the most famous gastronome of the XIX sec: the risotto with cuttlefish.
Typical is also the succulent rice timbale and the famous tomatoes with rice that enlivened the lunches with my paternal grandmother.
The risotto recipes that I bring back are from my mother’s family tradition. My northern grandmother used to cook the risotto even in the torrid summer heat. My mother is very greedy, preferring it far to pasta, and cooks it with skill.