Italian · Authentic-ish Italian
Risi e Bisi
507 kcal a serving, against 754 for the traditional version. That is 247 kcal off, or 33%, with 23.4g of protein. Serves 4. 40 minutes.
What the traditional version is
Arborio rice cooked slowly in chicken stock, enriched with a heavy base of fried pancetta and butter, heavily laden with parmesan. The peas act like a garnish to the fat.
What changed, and what each change costs
80g of butter down to 15g of olive oil
Butter is pure fat and calories. I cut 80g of it to strip out the dead weight.
What it costs you. You'll lose that glossy, mouth-coating finish. Olive oil does a job for frying the onion, but it can't mimic emulsified butter at the end. You've just got to accept a thinner sauce.
120g of pancetta down to 50g
Pancetta is brilliant for flavour, but it's aggressively fatty. Using a smaller amount still flavours the base oil without making the whole dish greasy.
What it costs you. You'll get fewer crispy bits of pork to chew on. Every bite won't have pancetta in it, so you rely more on the parmesan for that salty punch.
300g of frozen peas up to 600g, and 320g of rice down to 200g
Peas have decent protein and fibre. Putting in twice as many peas and cutting the rice means you still get a massive bowl of food.
What it costs you. It feels more like a pea stew than a rice dish. The ratio completely flips. If you want a traditional risotto texture, this will feel aggressively green.
The numbers
| Per serving | Traditional | Lightened |
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 754 | 507 |
| Protein | 27.4g | 23.4g |
| Fat | 31.5g | 13.1g |
| Saturated fat | 15.9g | 4g |
| Carbohydrate | 88.3g | 72.7g |
| Protein per 100 kcal | 3.6g | 4.6g |
Every figure is computed from the recipe's own weighed ingredient list against public food composition databases. The appendix in Authentic-ish Italian prints the exact database row used for each ingredient, so any number here can be checked.
Allergens. milk, celery.
The method is in the book
This is a vegetable dish pretending to be a carb dish. The original is a rich, fatty hug. This version is lighter, fresher and demands far less from your digestive system. Call it a structural rethink rather than a perfect replica and you'll be about right. The huge volume of peas keeps you full, and the pancetta delivers enough salt and smoke to stop it tasting like baby food.
The quantities and the method for this dish are in Authentic-ish Italian, along with 59 more. It is not out yet. The swap kit is free in the meantime.