Summer Corn Farrotto with Brown Butter and Sweet Burst Tomatoes
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Farrotto is like risotto but made with farro instead of riso, Italian for “rice.” It’s a traditional Italian dish, not a whole-grain stand-in for risotto. Since Italians cook for flavor, not for health, farrotto is delicious. And just happens to be healthy. This farrotto is made from stock cooked with corn cobs, which makes for an intense corn experience, and is my way of making sure you don’t try making this with frozen corn. Don’t try. It’s all about the corn. So if it isn’t corn season, make something else.
Put the corn cobs in a tall stockpot with an insert, if you have one, or in any large pot and add 10 cups water. Bring the water to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to maintain a simmer and cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until the liquid has reduced by half. Strain the stock or lift out the insert and discard the cobs.
Meanwhile, put 1 cup of the corn kernels in a blender or mini food processor, add a splash of the corn water, and puree, adding more water if necessary to get things moving. Set aside.
Choose the smallest saucepan you have, preferably one with a light-colored bottom to brown the butter oin. Add the butter and heat over medium heat until it begins to buttle and spurt, 3 to 5 minutes. Cook the butter, swirling the pan so it cooks evenly, until the butter has a nutty, toasted aroma and is clear with brown specks (those are milk solids), about 5 minutes. Pour the butter into a small bowl, otherwise, teh milk solids will burn from the heat of the pan and the butter will be bitter instead of yummy. Set aside.
Pour enough olive oil into a medium saucepan to coat it and heat the oil over medium heat for 1 minute just to warm it slightly. Add the onion and whole corn kernels, season with the salt, and cook until the onion is tender, about 6 minutes, stirring often so the vegetables don’t brown. Add the farro and roast, stirring often until the grains begin to crackle, about 3 minutes.
Add the wine and simmer until the farro has drunk the wine, about 2 minutes. Increase the heat to medium-high and stir in the corn puree and a big ladleful (about 1 cup) of the corn stock.
Cook, stirring often, until the farro has absorbed the liquid. Continue cooking the farro, adding the stock a ladle- or cupful at a time and allowing the grains to absorb the stock each time before adding more, until the farrotto is creamy and the grains are tender and have burst open, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Add ½ ladleful of stock and cook for a few minutes, until the farrotto is a loose and spoonable consistency, like porridge, not so runny that you couldn’t eat it with a fork. If the farrotto gets too dry, add more stock or water.
Stir in the tomatoes and cook for a minute or two so the tomatoes burst slightly. Turn off the heat and stir in the brown butter and Parmesan.
Spoon the farrotto into four big shallow bowls and drop the small basil leaves (or snip larger leave switch scissors) over each portion. Serve more Parmesan for sprinkling or grating at the table.
