In Italy, risotto is normally served as a first course, Risotto Milanese being one of the very few served as a main course along side Osso Buco (braised Veal Shank. The Risotto alla Milanese is usually made with beef bone marrow which gives it its characteristic taste and is coloured with saffron. <br />Paola, a friend of mine, grows and dries saffron in the San Gimignano region and her saffron threads are delicious but you can also get very tasty saffron threads from Spain. <br />Using saffron threads is very, very different from saffron powder as the latter is normally contains very little saffron powder mixed with turmeric which is a lot less expensive, so you get the colour but not the taste. <br />Legend says that in the 16th Century an artisan glass maker, working on the stain-glass for the Duomo in Milan, made very special colours by adding saffron powder to the finished glass paste. His master said, “One of these days you’ll also be adding saffron to risotto!”. Not long after this, the master’s daughter got married and, as a surprise, asked the cook to add saffron to the risotto made for the banquet. <br />This recipe is the traditional from Milan with bone marrow.

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