Risotto = Yum
What I'm making for dinner tonight:
Mushroom and Asparagus Risotto
I included some optional ingredients, steps and substitutions. The basic recipe is good by itself with lots of pepper. You can add just about any other additions in place of the vegetables. Some ideas:
Fresh Fava beans (Chianti anyone?)
Steamed Kabocha, other squash or sweet potato chunks
Fresh peas
Drizzle of Truffle oil or other seasoned oil just before serving
Cooked Pancetta or Bacon
Pre-sauteed mushrooms, asparagus, artichoke, etc.
Chinese white pepper instead of black
Basic Risotto Recipe
Feeds 4 four for dinner or even more for appetizer portions
Prep time – 10 minutes
Cook time – 40 minutes
2 Tbs. Or so Olive Oil
1 small or half a larger onion (can sub the same amount of shallots) chopped fine
2 C. Arborio Rice
½ C. White Wine (or sub stock)
6 C. or so of Chicken or Vegetable stock (I used chicken this time)
Fresh cracked black pepper (yes, fresh cracked)
¼ C. Grated Parmesan
Chopped fresh Italian parsley (optional)
1-1/2 C. Asparagus tips – I cut 4 inches off a 1 lb. bunch and cut the 4 in. portion into 2 in. pieces. I save the rest of the stem for stir-fry.
8 oz. Sliced Baby Portobello mushrooms (about 1 ½ cups)
- In a saucepan, heat up the broth until it is almost boiling and turn off heat. (If you are not using wine, heat up the extra ½ cup in this step too.) While broth is heating, heat oil in a large saucepan (rice will expand to at least 3x times is current volume). Lower heat to medium low. Add onions and sauté (do not brown) until softened.
- Raise heat to medium. Add rice to onions and stir until rice is well coated with oil and looks more “chalky” white, about 2-3 minutes. I didn’t have time, but you can even wait until rice turns slightly golden.
- Turn heat back to medium low. Add wine (or hot broth sub) and stir slowly with wooden spoon while cooking until fully absorbed. Continue adding hot broth at ¾ C. to 1 C. intervals (depending on how rushed you feel) while stirring until absorbed before each addition. Don’t walk away for more than a few seconds or you will haz a major sad. Your risotto will stick and burn. If it sticks a little, it can be rescued with some broth and agressive stirring. See step 5 if you are adding some vegetables. Keep doing this with the broth until the rice is cooked and creamy but still a little chewy.
- Turn off flame. Add pepper, cheese and parsely. It should be salty enough with the broth and the cheese.
- To add vegetables: a. Raw: When you have about 2 ½ C. of broth left add asparagus with the next interval of broth. Then add mushrooms with the rest of the broth. Keep stirring until rice is cooked. It will be soupy at first but the extra broth helps the veg cook better I think. b. Cooked: Add with last interval of broth. c. Go to step 4. Yay!
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