Where Acquerello Rice is from

The VERCELLI plain is an area historically devoted to rice cultivation. Immense mirrors of water create a magical and enchanting landscape, which has inspired many artists and poets. This is where ACQUERELLO rice is grown with an environmentally friendly approach.
During cultivation, the water is always kept high.

This allows the preservation of the delicate ecosystem and the typical fauna of the rice field: frogs, dragonflies and herons find their home here.

ACQUERELLO represents the Italian excellence worldwide, which, thanks to its uniqueness and extraordinary quality, from Livorno Ferraris reaches every corner of the world: from New Zealand to Perù.

I RONDOLINO
Since 1935, when Cesare Rondolino bought Tenuta Colombara, the Rondolino family has dedicated its life to rice farming. At the beginning of the 90’s, his son Piero started the Acquerello project, and today his wife Maria Nava and their sons, Rinaldo, Umberto and Anna help him develop his idea. The family carries on the activity with passion, trying to improve the quality of production with the help of new technologies.

Ingredients for 4 people:
Preparation time: 20 minutes.
Cooking time: 35 minutes.

AQUERELLO rice: 1 cup+1/3
Green ripe Apples: 2 cups.
Shallots: 4 pcs.
Fresh Chili pepper: 1 pcs.
Grated Parmesan cheese: 5 tablespoons.
Black pepper: to taste.
Fresh Pumpkin: 2 ½ cups.
Vegetable stock: 4 cups.
Fresh sage: 2 leaves.
Olive oil: 2 tablespoons.
Salt: to taste

PREPARATION
To prepare the risotto with apples, spicy pumpkin and sage, start by preparing the vegetable broth. Then cut the Pumpkin into quarters and remove the outer skin. Cut it into slices and then into 1 cm cubes. Wash, dry and finely chop the shallots. Heat a pan with a drizzle of oil and sauté the shallots for about 5-6 minutes, stirring constantly. Add a couple of tablespoons of vegetable stock to facilitate cooking. Add the pumpkin and a ladle of vegetable stock to the shallots, cook over low heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. When the broth has been absorbed, add the rice and let it toast for about 1 minute. Add more vegetable stock as it absorbs, it will take about 20 minutes total for the rice to cook. While the rice is cooking, take half a chili pepper and remove the seeds. Then cut it into thin strips together with washed sage leaves. Add the chili pepper and sage to the risotto while is cooking. Add salt and pepper to taste. Wash and dry the apples, cut them in half, then into slices, remove the core. It ‘s not necessary to remove the peel, it will give color to the Risotto (if you prefer, however, you can peel them). Then cut the apple slices into cubes of about 2 cm. When 5-6 minutes are left from the end of the cooking of the risotto (after at least 15 minutes you started cooking the rice), add the apples and stir well. Keep adding the rest of the vegetable stock. At the end of cooking, turn off the heat and add the grated parmesan cheese and stir. Garnish with leaves of fresh parseley.