“You can’t have your cake and eat it too.” Huh? I don’t get it. If I have a cake, I eat it. So this makes no sense to me.
I prefer the Italian idiom for the same expression: “Non si puo avere la botte piena, e la moglie ubriaca,” which translates into “you can’t have both the full wine cask and a drunk wife.” What a choice indeed: all of my wine or a drunken wife. Though this doesn’t really make sense to me either, since I’d prefer to have my wine and drink it too.
As for risotto alle zucchine. Have it, eat it, drink your wine, with your wife. And have cake for dessert.
Buon appetito!
Edwin Garrubbo
P.S. Check out our wine pairings to complement this dish.
Ingredients
Instructions
Rinse the zucchini under cold water. Remove the stem and discard. Cut into ½ inch dices. Set aside.
In a large skillet, over medium heat, sauté the onion in half of the butter and the olive oil until translucent. Add the zucchini and cook together until lightly golden. Add the rice and stir together until opaque and lightly toasted. Add the wine and allow to evaporate. Add a ladle of the warm stock. Continue to cook and stir (preferably with a fork) until the liquid is almost fully absorbed. As the liquid absorbs, add more stock, a ladle at a time, waiting until almost completely absorbed before adding more. Cook until rice is al dente, about 10-15 minutes, and creamy.
Mix in the cheese. Remove the skillet from the heat. Serve immediately with some fresh black pepper.

Edwin Garrubbo
Ed Garrubbo has been studying, cooking, searching for, and thinking about la cucina italiana for as long as he can remember. He cooks a wide range of Italian dishes, but loves his pasta most. He visits restaurants, cooking schools, markets, and food artisans across Italy, and wherever Italians practice their craft. He is a member of the Accademia Italiana della Cucina, and is a citizen of both the United States and Italy.
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