I’ve had risotto in restaurants before, but I’ve never actually made it. I’m not really sure why, but perhaps there was some subliminal intimidation going on. Let’s face it, watch 3 episodes of Hell’s Kitchen and it seems everyone has a pan of risotto that becomes a disaster at some point.
Well, recently I became posessed by something at the supermarket and I found myself with a container of risotto. And this afternoon, I got a bit of a wild hair and decided I would make some up for dinner. Had to go to the market for milk anyway, and decided I’d let something jump out at me as to what to put in it. And no sooner did I walk through the door than I found it – asparagus!
After much stirring, and stirring, and some more stirring – I had dinner.
Overall, not too bad at all considering that it was my first go at it. (I couldn’t get the asparagus to look artful, I tried, LOL.) Still needed a little more S&P when I dug into it, and it wasn’t quite as soft as I thought it should have been – I think that can be remedied easily next time by having the heat somewhat lower and giving the liquid more time to soak in. (It also could have been that I cut the usual serving in half. Time will tell.)
I sauteed 3 chopped up shallots in butter until they were nice and soft.
Added a 1/2 cup of risotto and let it soak up the butter, about a minute or two.
Added 1/2 cup of heated chicken stock, stirred until it was soaked in.
Repeated that with two more 1/2 cups of stock.
Once the last of the stock was soaked up, I stirred in about 1/4 cup of grated parmesano-reggiano cheese, and then folded in the roasted asparagus. (I just roll them in some butter and cracked pepper and put them under the broiler of the toaster oven for about 5 minutes.)
Added salt & pepper to taste.
I did it all on medium heat, I think next time I will do it on medium low – it will take a little longer, but I think it will be a bit softer that way.
Overall, it really wasn’t that difficult – just somewhat time consuming and it’s not the type of thing you can easily walk away from while it’s cooking. Even though mine wasn’t perfect, it was certainly tasty and something I think that anyone could make with some patience!
It’s also insanely rich – I could only finish about half of it. So, if you’ve been hemming and hawing over making risotto – give it a go. I think next time I’ll be going for a low-country version.
