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healthy_eatingWelcome to the weekly recipes post! The idea is to give folks who want to try new recipes ideas. Each week we'll have a theme chosen from the themes list on this post. If you would like to suggest a theme, comment there and I'll add it to the top of the list.
If you would like to signup to write the opening post and pick out a theme for the week because you found a really awesome recipe or you love a certain vegetable, let me know in comments what week you want and it's yours.
***
I made risotto for the first time this week under instructions from my sister according to how she does it. Risotto, for the other risotto virgins out there, is rice cooked by slowly adding the liquid to it until it's kind of gluey (not in a bad way!) and sticks together. You can add vegetables and meat to it, or serve it as a side. The downside is it takes 20-30 minutes of constant stirring.
Ingredients:
1 cup of Arborio rice or another rice suitable for risotto
4 cups of vegetable broth
3 tablespoons of butter
1 teaspoon of salt
Vegetable additions - you don't have to use all of these but mix and match as you like or anything else that you want to do, and of course amounts may vary as you like
Onion (add early)
Sweet potatoes (add early)
Broccoli (add halfway)
Asparagus (add at the end)
Green beans
Squash
Mushrooms
Meat additions - you'll want to precook or cook these separately and then add in toward the end
Cubed chicken breast
Sausage pieces
Shrimp
The basic risotto is fairly straightforward. It takes about 30 minutes and should be eaten right when it's done. It does take attention though, so if you do risotto try not to have too many other things going on.
Cook the whole time over medium/medium low heat in a decently sized pan. First melt the butter in the pan. Then add the chopped onions (and mushrooms) and chopped vegetables that normally take 30 minutes to cook. Let them go for about a minute to get going.
Next add the rice to the pan and make sure all the rice gets coated with butter. The grains need the fat on them (so if you don't want to use butter sub in oil of some sort) so they do their thing properly (I'm not sure what, but it's apparently important - where's Alton Brown when you need him?)
After the rice is coated in butter, start adding the broth about a 1/4 cup at a time. Let the rice absorb the broth before adding the next 1/4 cup. The farther along you go the more broth you can add at time. While you add, stir the rice. It doesn't have to be constant constant stirring, but every minute or so.
Add vegetables that usually need about 10 minutes to cook somewhere about halfway through or twenty minutes in, this way they won't be over cooked.
If you're adding meat, precook them or partially cook them at the beginning when you add the onions (just make sure there's enough butter or oil to coat the rice when you add it). They will have plenty of time to finish cooking while you add broth to the risotto.
When the broth is more or less absorbed around 30 minutes. Mix in the salt and other seasoning as you like. Turn off the heat. Let it stand a little and it will thicken as it cools. Serve!
Don't worry if you add to much liquid at a time, as long as you pause sometime to let the rice absorb it should turn out okay (I know because I missed the memo on "don't add more broth until the rice absorbs what's already there" until about halfway through).
Variations? Suggestions for what kinds of things to add to a risotto? I'm wondering what kinds of spices people use besides salt and pepper.
If you would like to signup to write the opening post and pick out a theme for the week because you found a really awesome recipe or you love a certain vegetable, let me know in comments what week you want and it's yours.
I made risotto for the first time this week under instructions from my sister according to how she does it. Risotto, for the other risotto virgins out there, is rice cooked by slowly adding the liquid to it until it's kind of gluey (not in a bad way!) and sticks together. You can add vegetables and meat to it, or serve it as a side. The downside is it takes 20-30 minutes of constant stirring.
Ingredients:
1 cup of Arborio rice or another rice suitable for risotto
4 cups of vegetable broth
3 tablespoons of butter
1 teaspoon of salt
Vegetable additions - you don't have to use all of these but mix and match as you like or anything else that you want to do, and of course amounts may vary as you like
Onion (add early)
Sweet potatoes (add early)
Broccoli (add halfway)
Asparagus (add at the end)
Green beans
Squash
Mushrooms
Meat additions - you'll want to precook or cook these separately and then add in toward the end
Cubed chicken breast
Sausage pieces
Shrimp
The basic risotto is fairly straightforward. It takes about 30 minutes and should be eaten right when it's done. It does take attention though, so if you do risotto try not to have too many other things going on.
Cook the whole time over medium/medium low heat in a decently sized pan. First melt the butter in the pan. Then add the chopped onions (and mushrooms) and chopped vegetables that normally take 30 minutes to cook. Let them go for about a minute to get going.
Next add the rice to the pan and make sure all the rice gets coated with butter. The grains need the fat on them (so if you don't want to use butter sub in oil of some sort) so they do their thing properly (I'm not sure what, but it's apparently important - where's Alton Brown when you need him?)
After the rice is coated in butter, start adding the broth about a 1/4 cup at a time. Let the rice absorb the broth before adding the next 1/4 cup. The farther along you go the more broth you can add at time. While you add, stir the rice. It doesn't have to be constant constant stirring, but every minute or so.
Add vegetables that usually need about 10 minutes to cook somewhere about halfway through or twenty minutes in, this way they won't be over cooked.
If you're adding meat, precook them or partially cook them at the beginning when you add the onions (just make sure there's enough butter or oil to coat the rice when you add it). They will have plenty of time to finish cooking while you add broth to the risotto.
When the broth is more or less absorbed around 30 minutes. Mix in the salt and other seasoning as you like. Turn off the heat. Let it stand a little and it will thicken as it cools. Serve!
Don't worry if you add to much liquid at a time, as long as you pause sometime to let the rice absorb it should turn out okay (I know because I missed the memo on "don't add more broth until the rice absorbs what's already there" until about halfway through).
Variations? Suggestions for what kinds of things to add to a risotto? I'm wondering what kinds of spices people use besides salt and pepper.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-24 10:01 am (UTC)I haven't made risotto in way to long... *clears schedule*
(I'd like to do a week on lentils some time, but not this month. The second half of October would be okay.)
no subject
Date: 2011-09-24 02:40 pm (UTC)I love lentils! How about the week of October 21?
no subject
Date: 2011-09-24 02:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-24 02:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-24 03:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-26 03:34 am (UTC)And if you like mushrooms, one of my favorite ways to cook this a little differently is to use the mushroom water from those small jars of sliced ones: gives it a really rich and different flavor.
One of the things we do a lot when cooking a similar Mexican dish is to have half broth and half tomato sauce. Fooling about with the flavors of the liquid might be a way to play around but not have to guess at what seasonings/herbs to put in or how much.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-26 10:59 pm (UTC)I hadn't thought of using the jarred or canned liquids like that for flavor but that's a really good idea. I'm going to try that next time!