Risotto al Limone

The lemons on the coast south of Napoli are famous. You find different kinds in Sorrento and in Amalfi and others on the island of Capri. The ones of Amalfi are a bit sweeter. Many of these lemons are the size of a child´s head. The special ones do not have a lot of juice, they are grown for their skin.
Most famous is the yellow liqueur called Limoncello. Is is served very cold after many dinner meals. The skin of the lemons gets peeled without the bitter white side and stored in 90% alcohol for a couple of days. Then you prepare a sugar and water solution and get the skins out and mix the alcohol with it.

But the lemons are used for cooking and for the perfume industry too.

The risotto al limone de Sorrento is found on many menus. I had this on the second night in the Hotel in Meta di Sorrento as first course. The waiter came around with a serving dish a slopped a spoon full onto my plate. It did not look very appetizing and I did not take a picture of it. I hoped the taste was better. And it was, only the kitchen had been a bit skimpy on the cheese.
But I knew, I had to make this at home as soon as possible.

recipe for 2:
160 g caneroli rice
500 ml veg stock
3 shallots
1 clove of garlic
1 tbsp olive oil with lemon
1 lemon skin and juice
water as much as the lemon juice
pepper
100 g pecorino cheese
2 tbsp butter

Chop onions and garlic and heat up the oil, saute them for 2 minutes and add the washed rice.
Give it a good coating in the oil.
Grate the skin from the lemon and squeeze out the juice, double it with water and add it to the rice.

Add the veg stock in 4 sections, each time cook it down while stirring often.
After the second round add the lemon peel and pepper.
When the rice is cooked, make sure it still has enough liquid, add cheese and butter.