Risotto. Rice and butter and cheese. And stirring. Wine, shallots and garlic and chicken stock. And more stirring. Pretty simple, and yet so tasty. My teenager and I both adore risotto. My husband not so much, so I make this with the shrimp from last Friday and everyone is happy. This recipe makes a lot, so if you find yourself with leftovers, just add a little more chicken stock to it before you reheat it and it will be almost as good as freshly made.
2 cups Arborio rice
1 shallot, finely minced
2-3 cloves garlic, finely minced
3/4 cup good quality Parmesan cheese
6-8 cups chicken stock, hot but not boiling
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons olive oil
Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Sauté the shallots and garlic but don't brown. Add in the rice and stir to coat the rice with the oil. Once the rice is well coated, add the wine and stir until the wine is all absorbed.
Start adding the hot chicken stock about 1 ladle full at a time, and stir vigorously until the stock is absorbed. Continue adding the stock 1 ladle at a time, stirring until it is all absorbed by the rice. Keep adding and stirring until the rice is done--it will take a good twenty minutes (or longer!) of constant stirring and (less constant) stock adding. After about 20 minutes, eat a grain or two of the rice to test for doneness--it should be firm but not hard or crunchy.
Keep stirring in stock until the rice is a firmness you like. As you stir, the rice will take on a nice creamy, thick consistency.
Once the rice is done, remove it from the heat and stir in the butter, then the cheese.
The rice should be thick and creamy, and buttery and good, and your wrist should be sore and your fingers numb from the carpal tunnel syndrome all that stirring will give you. :)
And you can feel superior because you just made a dish at home that would cost you around $17 in a fancy restaurant. And you didn't even have to get dressed up. :)
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