What's On My Plate » risotto

Asparagus and Shrimp Risotto

Tonya — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 11:23:09 +0000

One of the cookbooks in my collection that continues to delight me is Marcella Says…” by Marcella Hazan. Sure, the recipes tend to be kind of labour intensive (do I REALLY need to peel my bell peppers?) but they really work. I really need to invest in Hazan’s classic cookbook, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking.

As the weather starts to (slowly) warm up and acknowledge that we’ve technically moved on from winter and onto spring, I find myself wanting lighter, brighter foods. What could be lighter and brighter than a risotto featuring asparagus and shrimp?

I made this recipe on a weeknight and because of that I opted out of peeling my asparagus. Yes, Hazan insists on peeling the asparagus but that just felt a wee bit crazy to me. Plus, my asparagus were on the thin side and I just knew that peeling them would be a pain in my butt. Another interesting bit in the recipe is the use of beef bouillon. I’m used to seeing risotto recipes using chicken broth/stock but never a bouillon cube and water. I was skeptical but I did have beef bouillon cubes in the pantry so I decided to give it a shot.

This was definitely one of my favourite risotto recipes. The asparagus make it feel like spring, the shrimp make things lighter but the slight beefiness makes it a tiny bit heavier and more substantial feeling. My only issue is that it’s hard not to overcook the asparagus (and to a degree the shrimp as well) in this dish but the flavours don’t really suffer, it’s more of a texture thing.

For a partial view of the recipe click here. See Marcella Says…” by Marcella Hazan for the full recipe.

Easy Oven Risotto with Butternut Squash and Bacon

Tonya — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 14:48:02 +0000

Since acquiring the latest Barefoot Contessa cookbook, How Easy Is That? by Ina Garten, I’ve been steadily cooking my way through it. The recipes really are quick, easy and perfect for weeknight suppers without appearing to be too simple. When I do my weekly menu planning I find myself picking up this book and adding at least one recipe to my list for the week.

I enjoy a good risotto as much as the next girl. I even enjoy making it. For some reason people really get their panties in a knot when even thinking about making risotto because it involves a fair bit of stirring and you have to monitor it. The stirring and constant attention don’t really bother me at all. But when I saw Ina’s recipe for Easy Parmesan “Risotto” I was intrigued. The need for constant stirring is eliminated because you cook the “risotto” in the oven. Well played Ina, well played.

I thought the technique was interesting but found the recipe itself kind of lackluster for a full meal. The recipe is for a simple risotto with just peas and Parmesan but that wasn’t going to cut it for me. I looked in my fridge and found some butternut squash and my homemade bacon and thought that they would make a pretty fabulous risotto.

I started off by roasting the squash until they were cooked through. While that was happening I sauteed the bacon. I followed Ina’s recipe for cooking the rice but threw the squash in there for the entire cook time. In the final finishing step I added the bacon and let it cook for a few minutes longer to combine the flavours.

This was a really interesting way to make risotto. The texture was a bit on the mushy side but that could easily be rectified by cooking it less or with a tad less water. If I were making risotto as a side dish to accompany something else I would definitely use this technique again. Your risotto can be cooking while you’re preparing another part of your meal AND you end up with a pretty elegant side.

If you complain about making risotto because it’s time consuming, this recipe is definitely for you.

Easy Oven Risotto with Butternut Squash and Bacon

(Adapted from this recipe from Ina Garten aka Barefoot Contessa)

1 cup butternut squash, cubed
Olive oil
1/2 cup bacon, diced
1.5 cups Arborio rice
5 cups simmering chicken stock, preferably homemade, divided
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup dry white wine
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, diced
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Toss the butternut squash in oil, place on a baking sheet and roast in the oven until tender.

Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees.

Place the rice, cooked squash and 4 cups of the chicken stock in a Dutch oven.

Cover and bake for 45 minutes, until most of the liquid is absorbed and the rice is al dente.

As the rice cooks, sautee the bacon in a pan to crisp. Set on paper towels to drain and set aside.

Remove the rice from the oven and add the rest of the chicken stock, the Parmesan, wine, butter, bacon, salt and pepper. Stir for 3 to 5 minutes until the rice is creamy and serve.

Spring Green Risotto

Tonya — Thu, 13 May 2010 14:00:05 +0000

I’m back on my Barefoot Bloggers thing this month! This month’s recipe comes from Kimberly at Indulge & Enjoy. I know I just posted about risotto and trust me I wasn’t thrilled about making more risotto so soon but I was delighted at the spring-ness of this recipe. Leeks, asparagus, peas and fennel? Sign me up!

I’m taking a cooking class right now (post to come) so I ended up in the vicinity of the St Lawrence Market farmer’s market late Saturday morning for the rest of the summer. How awesome is that? It gives me an excuse to hit up the market and enjoy summer’s bounty. With that said I ended up buying most of my produce for this recipe form the market. AND price-wise it was pretty comparable to the supermarket.

I made one major-ish substitution to this recipe. I really didn’t want to buy mascarpone. A small tun is $6.99 and the bigger one is $12.99. The recipe only requires 1/3 cup. I said screw it and substituted a mix of cream cheese and sour cream instead. It was totally fine. Sure it’s not the same as mascarpone but the goal was to add some creaminess to the risotto and that worked like a charm. I also didn’t realize that there weren’t any chives in my fridge/freezer so I went without.

The risotto was pretty delicious. It was definitely more about the fresh vegetables than the rice. I loved that it was a good way to eat a lot of veggies in one sitting without even having to think about it. To make this vegetarian you could use veggie stock instead of chicken. I ate this as a main course but part of me wishes I would have thrown a piece of fish in the oven to eat alongside of it. I had to eat a LOT of rice to squelch my hunger.

Another winner from Ina Garten/ Barefoot Contessa!

Spring Green Risotto
Ingredients

* 1 1/2 tablespoons good olive oil
* 1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
* 3 cups chopped leeks, white and light green parts (2 leeks)
* 1 cup chopped fennel
* 1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
* 2/3 cup dry white wine
* 4 to 5 cups simmering chicken stock, preferably homemade
* 1 pound thin asparagus
* 10 ounces frozen peas, defrosted, or 1 1/2 cups shelled fresh peas
* 1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
* Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
* 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
* 1/3 cup mascarpone cheese, preferably Italian
* 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for serving
* 3 tablespoons minced fresh chives, plus extra for serving

Directions

Heat the olive oil and butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the leeks and fennel and saute for 5 to 7 minutes, until tender. Add the rice and stir for a minute to coat with the vegetables, oil, and butter. Add the white wine and simmer over low heat, stirring constantly, until most of the wine has been absorbed. Add the chicken stock, 2 ladles at a time, stirring almost constantly and waiting for the stock to be absorbed before adding more. This process should take 25 to 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, cut the asparagus diagonally in 1 1/2-inch lengths and discard the tough ends. Blanch in boiling salted water for 4 to 5 minutes, until al dente. Drain and cool immediately in ice water. (If using fresh peas, blanch them in boiling water for a few minutes until the starchiness is gone.)

When the risotto has been cooking for 15 minutes, drain the asparagus and add it to the risotto with the peas, lemon zest, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper. Continue cooking and adding stock, stirring almost constantly, until the rice is tender but still firm.

Whisk the lemon juice and mascarpone together in a small bowl. When the risotto is done, turn off the heat and stir in the mascarpone mixture plus the Parmesan cheese and chives. Set aside, off the heat, for a few minutes, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and serve hot with a sprinkling of chives and more Parmesan cheese.

(Recipe from Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics)

Risotto with Red, Yellow, and Green Peppers

Tonya — Sat, 08 May 2010 21:26:13 +0000

Based on my recent success with another Marcella Hazan recipe I decided to try something else from Marcella Says….

This time around I opted for risotto, mainly because I had some Arborio rice in my cupboard that I wanted to use up. This risotto with three types of peppers seemed the most appealing especially since I was feeling in a vegetarian mood.

Making risotto drives me a bit nuts. I mean all that adding liquid and constant stirring can drive anyone a bit batty. I mean if you don’t stir soon enough all of the rice could be stuck to the bottom. It can get mildly stressful. Luckily for this recipe Hazan (probably realizing the frustration involved in risotto-making) didn’t require any crazy preparation. Last time Hazan had me peeling peppers. It ended up not being as painful as anticipated but still, peeling peppers is no joke. While the preparation wasn’t too bad the actually cooking was pretty time-consuming. The peppers alone have to cook for about 30 minutes, then you get into the risotto making.

While I realize that I’m totally bitching and moaning about this recipe it was pretty darn delicious! It turned out rich and creamy with great caramelized flavour from the peppers. I ended up eating an obscene amount of this risotto.

Unfortunately I couldn’t find this recipe online to link to it. Believe me, I searched high and low. As I’ve mentioned the recipe can be found in Marcella Says… by Marcella Hazan. It’s worth seeking out…

Pasta With Chicken and Mushrooms, Risotto Style

Tonya — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 15:08:54 +0000

I was reading the Food Section of the New York Times and stumbled upon this recipe for a risotto-style pasta dish by Mark Bittman. I love risotto and I love pasta so I figured I’d see how this would all work out.

It was kind of labour intensive for no reason! The pasta didn’t end up like the starchy, creamy goodness of risotto. I’m pretty sure I could have achieved the same results that I ended up with without having to stir the pasta constantly so that it didn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.

Did it taste good? Of course! I made it without the chicken because chicken isn’t my favaourite and just upped the amount and variety of mushrooms that I used. I’m not really that committed to try this one again considering the work involved for little payoff.

Pasta With Chicken and Mushrooms, Risotto Style

2 tablespoons olive oil, more as needed
1 shallot or small onion, chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 cups crimini, shiitake or button mushrooms, cleaned, trimmed and sliced
1/2 pound cut pasta like gemelli or penne, or long pasta broken into bits
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup dry white wine or water
3 to 4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
2 boneless chicken thighs, diced
Chopped fresh parsley, optional
Freshly grated Parmesan, optional.

1. Put 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large, deep skillet over medium heat. When hot, add shallot, garlic and mushrooms. Cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms soften and begin to brown on edges, about 10 minutes. Add pasta and cook, stirring occasionally, until it is glossy and coated with oil, 2 to 3 minutes. Add a little salt and pepper, then wine. Stir and let liquid bubble away.

2. Ladle stock into skillet 1/2 cup or so at a time, stirring after each addition and every minute or so. When liquid is just about evaporated, add more. Mixture should be neither soupy nor dry. Keep heat at medium and stir frequently.

3. Begin tasting pasta 10 minutes after you add it; you want it to be tender but with a tiny bit of crunch. When pasta is about 3 to 4 minutes away from being done, add chicken and stir to combine. Continue to cook until chicken is done — it will be white on inside when cut — and pasta is how you like it. Taste, adjust seasoning, garnish with parsley and Parmesan if using, and serve.

Yield: 4 servings.

(From the New York Times)

Chive Risotto Cakes

Tonya — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 02:56:38 +0000

Clearly the love affair with the Barefoot Contessa/ Ina Garten continues. Her Back to Basics cookbook is FANTASTIC! I kind of want to make every recipe in this book. At the rate that I’m going I will probably have completed the task by… Februrary. I’m only kind of kidding.

I didn’t have an overwhelming desire to make the Chive Risotto Cakes. The photo looked appealing enough and the ingredients sounded like a winning combination but I just wasn’t hooked. Until I did some googling. This was another recipe covered by the intrepid Barefoot Bloggers so there were a ton of perspectives on this one. I was pretty much sold when I started reading about the creamy, cheesy goodness. That’s all it took.

Now, with the recipe it’s a good idea to read it a few hours before bedtime on the day BEFORE you plan to make the dish. Those are my words of wisdom to you. You have to cook the rice for 20 minutes and then chill the rice mixture for TWO HOURS (or overnight). TWO HOURS. Let’s say you get home from work at 6pm, you aren’t eating until after 8:30pm. No bueno! Clearly this anecdote is from experience. When I got home from work yesterday I kept on meaning to read the recipe because I had a feeling there were some steps I could do in advance. I finally read the recipe at about midnight… while I was in bed. I thought about just getting up and making the rice before I went the sleep but then I thought, oh I can do it in the morning. Needless to say it didn’t happen. BUT being clever I ended up chilling my rice mixture in the freezer for about 30-40 minutes and then put it in the fridge for another 15-20minutes. Then while I was cooking each batch I left the mixture in the fridge or freezer depending on how firm it was all feeling. It worked out just fine.

As for the results. ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS. Remember all those things I was saying about creamy, cheesy goodness? Add crunchy to the mix. And I have to add that I loved the chive flavour. The whole thing tasted like a cross between risotto and a baked potato. I was stumped when it came to what to serve this with. I couldn’t really serve it along another starch (nor did I want to) and I didn’t want to use this as a side for meat. So I opted for roasted garlic broccoli (inspired by another Back to Basics) and roasted carrots. I was going to do a salad but got lazy.

This one is a keeper!

Rating: ****1/2(out of 5)

See what others have to say about this recipe…
Smells Like Home
My Bit of Earth
Kahakai Kitchen

Chive Risotto Cakes

Serves 6

Kosher salt
1 cup uncooked Arborio rice
½ cup Greek yogurt
2 extra-large eggs
3 tablespoons minced fresh chives
1 ½ cup cups grated Italian Fontina cheese (5 ounces)
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¾ cup panko (Japanese dried bread flakes)
Good olive oil

Bring a large (4 quart) pot of water to a boil and add ½ tablespoon salt and the Arborio rice. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes. The grains of rice will be quite soft. Drain the rice in a sieve and run under cold water until cool. Drain well.
Meanwhile, whisk together the yogurt, eggs, chives, Fontina, 1 ¼ teaspoons salt, and the pepper in a medium bowl. Add the cooled rice and mix well. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight, until firm.
When ready to cook, preheat the oven to 250 degrees.
Spread the panko in a shallow dish. Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Form balls of the rice mixture using a standard (2 1/4 –inch) ice cream scoop or a large spoon. Pat the balls into patties 3 inches in diameter and ¾ inch thick. Place 4-6 patties in the panko, turning once to coat. Place the patties in the hot oil and cook, turning once, for about 3 minutes on each side until the risotto cakes are crisp and nicely browned. Place on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and keep warm in the oven for up to 30 minutes. Continue cooking in batches, adding oil as necessary, until all the cakes are fried. Serve hot.

Risotto with Mushrooms and Vin Santo

Tonya — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 01:56:59 +0000

In my last post a went on about the joy that is my Mario Batali cookbook. And now here’s some evidence.

A few weeks ago I bought a bag of Arborio-style rice and kept on meaning to make me some risotto. Then I realized that I had some leftover chicken broth in the fridge… a perfect reason to make risotto. I wasn’t sure what kind of risotto I wanted so I started going through my entire cookbook collection until something struck my fancy. As usual Mario struck my fancy with his Risotto with Mushrooms and Vin Santo.

Of course I wasn’t too sure about what Vin Santo even was. Luckily Mario suggests substituting Dry Sherry which was an easy one because I’ve been experimenting with Chinese food a lot recently and have a good bottle of Dry Sherry that I’m working on. So that was easy. I ended up doing a lot of substituting in this recipe. I couldn’t find porcini mushrooms. I’m sure if I went to Whole Foods or something I would have found them but I had a case of the lazies and didn’t feel like travelling to spend an exorbitant amount on fungus. Instead I used a mix of cremini and portobello mushrooms. The butter I used was salted. This frustrates me. Actually the whole pricing and presentation of butter in Toronto frustrates me. But that is a story for another post. Long story short, I only have salted butter in my fridge right now.

Some people think that risotto making is time-consuming and labour intensive, I beg to differ. Sure you have to stir risotto fairly constantly but it’s not a particularly stressful process. Grab the wooden spoon, maybe a glass of vino and stir away. You can even step away for a minute or two to fast forward through the commercials on your TiVo. Just a suggestion.

This turned out OK. My one complaint is that the dish was, dare I say, too boozy. I know, I didn’t think that could be possible. I’m thinking that maybe something gets lost in the vin santo to dry sherry translation – I’d definitely reduce the amount next time. Actually, I’d like to try vin santo but I just searched the LCBO site and the cheapest bottle is $20+. I also wish that I had a more intense mushroom taste. It wasn’t bad at all, it just wasn’t my favourite Mario recipe, but I don’t blame it on him yet because I did make a ton of changes.

Rating: *** (out of 5)

Risotto With Mushrooms And Vin Santo

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 medium red onion, finely chopped
8 ounces porcini, sliced
8 ounces shittake mushrooms, stems removed, caps sliced
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
8 cups chicken stock, heated until hot
1 cup vin santo *
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
salt and freshly ground black pepper

1) In a 10 to 12 inch saute pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat until almost smoking. Add the onion and cook until softened and translucent but not browned, 8 to 10 minutes.

2) Add the mushrooms and saute until lightly browned. Add the rice and stir until thoroughly coated and opaque, about 3 minutes.

3) Add a 4 to 6 ounce ladeful of the stock and cook, stirring, until the liquid is absorbed. Continue stirring and adding the stock a ladleful at a time, waiting until the liquid is absorbed each time before adding more, until the rice is tender and creamy but still al dente, about 18 minutes.

4) Add the vin santo and cook until the alcohol smell is gone, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat, add the butter and Parmigiano, and stir vigorously for 25 seconds. Season with salt and pepper, divide the risotto among four warmed plates, and serve.

*If you can’t find vin santo, Mario Batali recommends using dry sherry.

From Molto Italiano by Mario Batali

Butternut Squash Risotto

Tonya — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 02:06:31 +0000

One of the best things about fall is easily the abundance of squash. Summer and its fruits are great and all but let mid-September hit and start rolling out the squash and you have a VERY happy camper.

The other day Loblaws had squash on sale for $0.49 a pound so we bought some acorn and some butternut squash. Today I figured would be a lovely day to do something with some butternut squash. The weather has turned quite cold so I wanted something warm that would stick to my ribs and what better idea than a pot of butternut squash risotto.

I used a recipe I had used before courtesy of Martha Stewart but made some modifications. The recipe is pretty basic: arborio rice, squash, butter, wine, chicken brother, parmesan and sage. I didn’t have sage so i didn’t use it and I wanted to use some shallots but didn’t have any so I used onions and garlic.

I will admit, I’m still mastering the art of risotto… I think this pot turned out a bit mushier than I would’ve liked, but I’m not sure how to avoid that. Maybe I used too high a temperature or something. But the taste was great even though I didn’t use my preferred brand of broth. It was the perfect cold weather meal.