That's like... totally tubular, man!
Anyway, risotto. I had made a simplified version of it once before, but Andrew's post certainly piqued my interest in giving it another try. I enjoy very much savory grain-based dishes, particularly when they include some form of fat: macaroni and cheese, fried rice, pad thai, couscous, etc. Risotto seemed a logical choice.
Andrew covered the preparation pretty well, so I won't go into that too much. For the stock I used 1 can of chicken broth combined with a prepared cube of vegetable bullion. I also added a couple tablespoons of mirin -- sweetened Japanese cooking sake to give it a bit of a sweet flavor. After sauteing the onions for a couple of minutes, I added chopped portobello mushrooms as the main veggie, plus some julienned carrots (OK, baby carrots) to add a little color, some raw pine nuts, and a clove of minced garlic. Then, in turn, the risotto, the white wine, and finally some dried dill and savory. The final ingredient before adding the stock was to throw a few chopped scallions in there -- again, mainly for color as the flavor had cooked out of them by the time it was finished.
Andrew didn't specify which part of the lemon should be used, so I added the juice and zest of about 1/4 of one, as well as some fresh ground lemon-pepper (available at Trader Joe's for $2!). I admit I was a bit skeptical as to how the lemon flavor would fit in with the rest of the dish, but it was actually quite good! I shall never doubt you again, Andrew! For the dairy, I split the difference between the cheese and cream by adding about 1/2 cup each of parmesan and cream cheese, with a little milk to loosen the consistency up a bit.
Overall, I'd deem it a success! While chowing down, it struck me that some water chestnuts would have fit in quite well with their crispiness, so perhaps I will try that next time, see how it goes.
I'm glad you gave risotto a try Derek. One thing is that it cooks for a moderately long time, so you have to be carefully about adding things that can overcook. If you use green onions, I would add the white parts with the normal onion, and the green parts at the end. Same for the pine nuts. I might even cook portobellas separately with a little oil and garlic and add them at the end too.
ReplyDeleteThe portobellos actually turned out fine; I think they're pretty resilient to cooking, at least as far as fungus goes. I figured beforehand that the scallions would probably wilt during cooking, and I wasn't aiming for a real strong flavor from them, but I did underestimate the cooking time once you started adding the broth.
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