Whilst in Italy recently I spent a morning at Alessandro Cappotto’s cookery school in the beautiful Villa Calini near Lake Iseo in the Franciacorta wine region. The kitchen garden alone is a delight. There had been a thunderstorm; when the sun came out every herb was singing.

First, under Alessandro’s eagle eye, I cooked stuffed ballotine of guinea fowl and generally indulged my Masterchef fantasies. If you’re ever feeling frustrated, resentful or angry, go and beat the crap out of some guinea-fowl breasts between greaseproof paper using a steel tool that looks a bit like an upside-down flat-bottomed mushroom. You’re welcome. 

Then we made a risotto – a tomato one – and this is how we did it.

First, we got our stock – a clear one made with only the classic Italian base ingredients of carrot, onion and celery – boiling, and toasted our Arborio rice alone in a dry pan for a few minutes. This technique was news to me; perhaps you know of it already. The rice doesn’t visibly colour, but smells really toasty. Then we added our first few ladlefuls of stock – it boils and spits and roils like hell, but you leave the thing absolutely alone, without stirring at all – I KNOW! – for 11 minutes. You can add a bit more stock if you like, if it’s getting dry. If you stir, I cannot be held responsible for the consequences. I'm assured they're ghastly. 

After the time has passed, add a ladleful or two of tomato passata – cooked up fresh ripe tomatoes with a little onion, olive oil, a little garlic, perhaps a herb or two, sieved. Some more stock if needed. From now on, you stir, but not too much. Keep going. When it’s done, nice and al dente and pretty runny, add just a spoonful or two of potato purée – not too much, as you don’t want a potatoey texture, just a creaminess. Taste and season.

Then chuck in a couple of tablespoonfuls of butter – he used unsalted but I don’t hold by the stuff – and a mound of grated Parmesan. Finish with some burrata, quenelles of roasted chopped aubergine, some black-olive dust (chop them and oven-dry), and spike the whole lot with fresh thyme leaves and flowers.

I tell you, this is alchemy. It’s like the Platonic ideal of Heinz tomato soup: so simple, yet so delicious. Try it, preferably with a glass of the delicious local Franciacorta sparkling wine.