Pesto Risotto

Every once in a while a cooking contest will have the contestants schmoosh two recipes together.  Usually it's a pretty darned weird combination.  In our case, we combined risotto and pesto and got a pretty darned GOOD combination.  Good enough that I can say I liked this better than pesto and pasta.  Who'd have ever thought that????

Let's start with the pesto.  About 30 years ago a friend of mine named Monica gave me a pesto recipe.  I wrote it on the back of one of those pink phone message slips.  And, that's still what I use...  It's dog-eared as all get out.  But, it's still the best pesto recipe I've ever found.  Her secret is that you can do everything but add the butter and the parmesan and freeze the sauce.  We freeze a couple of pints of that every fall.  Then I thaw enough for each recipe and add the appropriate butter and cheese and we're good to go.  Just in case, I always keep a jar of Trader Joe's pesto in the pantry.  It's ok as a back up.  Here's the link to the post with the pesto recipe:  http://kateiscooking.blogspot.com/2010/08/eggplant-and-tomato-stacks-with-pesto.html

And, now, risotto.  Our clean up the kitchen for two.   Over the years I've posted several recipes for risotto.  But, it appears that I've never posted our basic recipe.  So, here goes:

Kate's Basic Risotto

Ingredients:

1 T olive oil
1/2 small onion, finely diced
1 c Arborio rice
1/4 c white wine (Chardonnay is usually best)
2-3 c chicken or turkey stock (keep warm in a saucepan)
1 T butter
1/2 - 1 c grated Parmesan

Directions:

In a medium saucepan, saute the onion in the olive oil until it's softened.  Pour in the rice.  Saute until it's a teeny, tiny bit brown.  Maybe I should say beige?  Although, Connie insists there are actually only eight colors and they can be found in the basic Crayola box!  So, once the rice gets a bit of a suntan, pour in the wine.  The rice will slurp it right up.  Ladle in about half a cup of stock and stir and stir and stir.  It's the stirring motion that causes the rice grains to release their starches and create the creaminess you want.  When the rice runs dry, ladle in another half cup.  And stir. And, so on until the rice is the right texture.  You don't want it al dente nor do you want it dry nor do you want it mushy.  It needs to have creaminess with texture.  If you've run out of stock and your risotto still isn't the right texture, toss in some water.  It won't hurt a thing.  Now, if you're planning on adding anything, this is the time to do it.  Whatever you add in should have been cooked in advance and should be nice and warm.  We put whatever in.  Mushrooms, peppers, shrimp, chicken, beef, zucchini, beets.  Like I said earlier, risotto is clean up the kitchen for two for us.  Ok, you've added in the extra and now it's time to plop in the knob of butter and the Parmesan.  Mix it all together and serve.  You can add more cheese on top as well as some fun crunchies.  We particularly love nuts.  But, French fried onions are equally good. 

Now, you've got the pesto made and the risotto made.  Mix in the pesto until you get a flavor you like.  For our pesto risotto, I browned some pine nuts.  They added the crunch and pizzazz I wanted.  We gave this one a five out of five!

As you'll note, there's a salad in the photos.  It's one of our favorites.  I had dribs and drabs of veggies to use up.  Celery, a small zucchini, a roma tomato, some radishes...  All of that tossed with some homemade blue cheese dressing and a sprinkle of dill and we were in business! 

Here's the link to the blue cheese dressing we love:  https://kateiscooking.blogspot.com/2013/11/blue-cheese-dressing-bjs-brewhouse-chef.html  I will say as time has gone on, I've upped the amount of dry mustard.  We love the tang it gives the dressing!

Chopped with Only the Basket

I felt like I was a contestant on Chopped.  Except all I had to cook with was the contents of my basket.  And, it was a pretty darned empty basket!  We'd gotten home from Alaska the night before at 2:00.  It was supposed to be 1:00 but weather delayed an incoming flight to O'Hare so we were delayed.  Once we got home we unpacked.  Well, we unpacked what we could since Connie's primary suitcase never made the Seattle to Chicago to Indy connection.  Five cookbooks, a glass piece with fireweed, a bronze moose, a couple of switchplates and a couple of zipper pulls.  We didn't go nuts on the mementos, just the photos. 

Needless to say, we slept in.  Then, we went to the office.  We were still pretty darned tired when we finally got home about 6:30.  I'd done a decent job of cleaning out the fridge before we left.  Except for some mushrooms that smelled to high heaven!  And, neither of us wanted to go to the grocery.  Besides, we'd not made a list so that would've meant two trips.  Not happening.  In my back pack I had two apples and two small bags of almonds.  I'd tucked them in in the event we had a quick transfer and missed lunch or dinner.  In the fridge I had some celery and a bit of blue cheese.  And, on the counter there was a bowl with one weak and wobbly red onion and three shallots. Shallots that were also pretty weak and wobbly. There was a big container of basil.  First thing I did this morning when I got up was deadhead the basil.  That we had plenty of. 

I decided the smartest move was to reach my hand into the freezer and we'd have whatever it was.  LOL, it was a container of five cups of chicken stock.  Ok, then.  We were having chicken stock. 

On the way back from the office I'd seen a recipe for a roasted red bell pepper and basil soup.  That sounded really good but the apples were going to be a salad.  Connie is not a fan of either fruit OR soup.  Both for a meal was pretty much overkill!  Unless, of course, I made risotto to go with them.  Since I wound up making my own soup recipe up, I'm not crediting the original inspiration...  We were off to the races!

I really can't tell you which I liked best.  All three were fabulous and I'll make them all again.

Deconstructed Pesto Risotto

Ingredients:

1 red onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T olive oil
1 c Arborio rice
2 - 2.5 c chicken stock
1/4 c chopped fresh basil
3 T butter, divided
1/2 c pine nuts
3/4 c shredded Parmesan, divided
8 large fresh basil leaves

Directions:

Saute the red onion in the olive oil.  Once its softened, add the garlic.  Don't let any of it brown.  Add the rice and let it get nice and warm.  Then, start ladling in the chicken stock one ladle-full at a time.  Let the rice absorb the stock before you add more.  And, remember, to be nice and creamy the rice needs to be knocked around a bit to release the starches.  So, stir and stir and stir again.  When the rice is about half cooked, toss in the chopped basil.  Then, just as the rice finishes, add a tablespoon of butter and 1/2 c of the shredded Parmesan.  While the rice is cooking, melt the other two tablespoons of butter in a skillet that's large enough to hold the eight basil leaves.  Let the butter get nice and brown before adding the basil.  Cook it until it's nice and crisp.  Brown the pine nuts in a dry skillet.  To serve, mound the risotto in the middle of your dishes.  Sprinkle with the additional Parmesan, then the pine nuts.  Top that with the fried basil leaves then drizzle with the remaining brown butter.



Blue Cheese and Apple Salad

Ingredients:

2 apples, diced (I'd use Gala)
3 ribs celery, diced
1/4 c toasted almonds, chopped
1/4 c blue cheese, crumbled
2 t lemon juice, or to taste
1/2 c mayonnaise

Directions:

Mix it all together and serve.


Roasted Red Bell Pepper and Basil Soup

Ingredients:

2 shallots, diced
3 T softened butter, divided
1 jar roasted red bell peppers, plus the juice
2 - 3 c chicken stock (I used about 2.5 c because that's what was left from the risotto)
1/2 c chopped fresh basil
2 T flour
4 oz jalapeno cream cheese
                          4 T sliced fresh basil

Directions:

Saute the shallots in a tablespoon of the butter.  Chop the red bell peppers and add them along with the juice from the jar.  Add the 1/2 c chopped fresh basil.  Add the chicken stock.  Cook for a few minutes just to blend the flavors.  Using an immersion blender, puree the soup.  Mix the other two tablespoons of butter with the flour and slowly add that to the soup.  Stir well and allow it to thicken.  Stir in the cream cheese.  Once the cream cheese is melted, serve and top with the sliced fresh basil.

Thai Watermelon Salad

Yup, it's fall.  Connie didn't even ask me if I wanted to eat out on the screened porch.  It's our summertime favorite spot.  We finish our dinners and head to the rockers and finish our wine and talk.  Now, though, it's cold and rainy.  Good thing I made comfort food for dinner - potato, bacon and cabbage torte.  There's enough left for lunch day after tomorrow.  That's because I'm having lunch with a client tomorrow.  Connie will get the leftover sesame noodles while I eat something not as good... Today we had leftover duck risotto.  That was amazingly good stuff.  Dinner on Tuesday will be appetizers at a beer tasting.  And, Wednesday's dinner is almost done and in the fridge.  I won't have to dig into the freezer at the office this week at all.  Best of all, by the time the week's over we'll have tried at least six new recipes.  Thus far, the five we've tried have all been keepers.  I love it when that happens. 

So, let's talk about the recipes...

French Toast with Peaches.  I blogged about this for Secret Recipe Club.  REALLY good stuff!

Jeni's Pear Riesling Sorbet.  There's an ice cream shop in Columbus, OH (Dublin, OH if you want to be really specific) called Jeni's.  For the most part, Connie and I have very similar tastes.  We love cheese, anchovies, smoked oysters, salumi.  We dislike milk.  But, I love ice cream and he doesn't.  When we're in Ohio visiting our grandkids, we frequently head to Jeni's.  Yup, it's typically my suggestion.  I have a heckuva time deciding what to get.  There are so many incredible flavors to choose from.  Connie, not so much.  He gets the Pear Riesling Sorbet.  So, thinking that I might try to make some ice cream like Jeni's I bought her cookbook.  Lucky day!  It has the Pear Riesling Sorbet recipe!  Now, I wound up dumping the mix in the freezer and leaving it overnight.  So, what I really have is a frozen block at this point.  But, scraping with a spoon allows a spoonful at a time to be enjoyed.  And, I've got to say it's just the same flavor. 

Duck Risotto.  A lot of folks find risotto intimidating.  I'll confess that I felt the same way way back when.  Now, risotto is clean up the kitchen for two.  We've not made risotto in forever.  Then, one of my blogger friends mentioned the fact she was making duck risotto.  So, Heather Tallman, aka Basilmomma, this is ALL your fault.  I took my typical mushroom risotto recipe and changed it up just a bit.  The initial olive oil was replaced with duck fat.  A duck confit leg was shredded and added with the mushrooms.  And, of course, the duck skin was crisped and put on top.  YUM!!  At some point I've got to check Heather's blog and see how she made hers...

Then, we had two totally new recipes. 

The first was sesame noodles.  Pretty basic stuff.  A peanut butter, soy sauce and sesame noodle dressing over thin spaghetti, chicken, red bell pepper and snow peas.  I got the recipe in a Martha Stewart email.  We've had several similar dishes and loved all of them.  Best thing is that since the recipe is to be served at room temperature or cool, it makes fabulous leftovers!

 I'd been hungry for the watermelon salad with feta and red onions.  That was until I read Jamie Oliver's Thai Watermelon Salad recipe in Jamie's Dinners.  This was amazing.  I ate the leftovers the next day for lunch.  The peanuts were kinda yucky.  But, the rest of the salad was still killer.  This will absolutely be a regular in our home.

Thai Watermelon Salad

Ingredients:
1/2 of a small, seedless watermelon
1 bunch cilantro leaves
1 handful of mint leaves
1 small bunch of radishes, thinly sliced
1 large handful peanuts
1- 2 oz feta cheese, crumbled

for the dressing:
2 t grated fresh ginger
2 T soy sauce
6 T extra virgin olive oil
1 t sesame oil
juice of two limes
salt and pepper

Directions:

Mix the dressing ingredients.  Toss all the salad ingredients.  Mix with the dressing and serve immediately.

Blue Cheese Dressing, BJ's Brewhouse, Chef Josephs, The Lockerbie...

We've had a couple of really fun cooking adventures recently.  Actually, I've had more than Connie.  He played bridge while my friend, Stacy, and I fixed a German meal.  But, that's not what came first.  The truffle came first. 

It'd been another of those killer weeks.  Monday I was sick.  Like come home from the office at 10:30 and go to bed sick.  Tuesday I had to feel better since I was teaching a Social Security class in the evening.  By the time everyone left the office about 9pm I was ready to collapse.  Fortunately, we'd taken along Cobb salad fixings so we'd had a good dinner before class.  I'd used my favorite blue cheese dressing which I discovered, much to my consternation, was not on here.  Now, we first made this in 2006 long before I'd thought about blogging.  Consequently, there's an image of a recipe with no attribution.  And a REALLY old photo...  So, here it goes:

Blue Cheese Dressing

Ingredients:
2/3 c crumbled blue cheese
1/3 c sour cream
2 T mayonnaise
1 T milk
1/2 t Worcestershire
1/4 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1/4 t ground mustard
1/4 t garlic powder

Directions:

The original recipe calls for whirring all of the above in a food processor.  I prefer to take about 1/4 c of the blue cheese and hold it out so I get nice, chunky dressing.  I also tend to double/triple the ground mustard, Worcestershire and garlic.  This is so easy to make and so much better than the jarred/bottled stuff!!!

Back to our adventures...

Wednesday it was time to meet our friends Pete and Shirley for dinner.  Pete had decreed that he wanted us to try his favorite brew pub - BJ's Brewhouse.  Neither of us was excited.  It's a chain, after all.  And, it's in a mall.  But, it was Pete's turn to choose so we showed up at the appointed hour.  Were we ever wrong!!!  We had about the best mac and cheese ever.  A little chipotle and bacon and a perfect sauce. 

And, the pulled pork sandwich was almost as good.  That's turkey club in front of the pulled pork.  It was good but not worthy of a special trip. 

Let me tell you, if there's time that mac and cheese is going to be lunch when I'm in my Greenwood office!

Thursday was a wine dinner at Chef Joseph's.  We got to sit with our friends, Steve and Colleen so had a lively conversation and great time.  Joseph did his usual amazing dishes.  The most incredible was dessert.  Goat cheese flan with lemon and pink peppercorns.  Yeah, it was beautiful and tasted amazing.  The evening was also a fund raiser for Little Red Door.  They offer loads of services for cancer patients.  We wound up with tickets to Theatre on the Square and a gift basket of wine and beer to go along with some beer signs and such. 

Friday night after work we headed downtown to Goose the Market to pick up our truffle.  We splurged and spent $23 on a fresh truffle.  Home it came.  Wrapped in a paper towel in a sealed container.  We opened it and took photos and sniffed. 

Didn't smell much like truffle.  So, I shaved off a little piece.  Kind of like eating a little nibble of wood.  Not much flavor and very dry.  Hmmm, maybe it'd be better cooked...  So we made steaks with a cognac/truffle sauce and mushroom risotto with shaved truffle on top.  Again, not much truffle flavor.

 

 

 

So, we tried again Saturday evening and made truffled scallops and crabmeat over butter lettuce and roasted beets.  This time I put truffle oil and the dressing and viola we had truffle flavor.

Sunday we were meeting Chef Joseph and his partner, Juan, for lunch at the Lockerbie Pub.  Time for some pub grub.  Here are two photos from a couple of months ago when we flew by the Lockerbie and picked up tenderloins to go:

I took along what was left of the truffle along and handed it to Joseph.  Was it good?  Well, this time of year they are hard as rocks, he said.  If you want to get some real flavor out of it, soak it in some brandy.  Ok, now I know. 

Sunday evening we were both still stuffed from our pork tenderloin sandwiches.  I put some short ribs from Goose in the dutch oven and let them simmer away.  I'd planned to make truffled mac and cheese but decided plain old smashed potatoes would be better.  We nibbled at the short ribs and left most of it for lunch later in the week.  That's ok.  It'll reheat REALLY well.  And, with the leftover hangar steak for another lunch and the leftover sauerbraten for yet another, we'll be having some fabulous lunches!

It looks like I'm running out of time and creating a monster post before even talking about our German feast  So, let me say to be continued...

Shitake Duck Risotto

Risotto is one of our favorite meals.  Absolutely comfort food.  And, it's so incredibly versatile.  We've made it with about as many meats and vegetables and cheeses as you an name.  And, they've almost all been great.  This one was no exception. 

My friends John and Jackie gave me a bag of shitakes that they'd grown. 

Aren't those gorgeous mushrooms?  And, that's only part of them.  Some were devoured after just being sauteed in a bit of butter.  The rest are being dried in the refrigerator.  We started brainstorming what to do with the mushrooms.  Chicken with a mushroom wine sauce?  Stroganoff?  Pork and mushroom mustard cream sauce?  We kept circling back to risotto.  And, I knew I had a duck confit leg in the freezer.  Duck and shitakes.  Perfect.

Risotto was a dish I'd never tackled until a few years ago.  It sounded complicated and easy to screw up.  Then, I tried making my own and fell in love with the process.  For me, it's a very calming dish to make.  Chopped onions are sauteed in butter and olive oil.  Raw arborio rice is added and allowed to turn just a little golden.  Then, in goes some white wine followed by warm chicken stock - 1/4 - 1/2 c at a time.  On the side, the additions are prepped.  Lots of stirring goes on.  Finally, the rice reaches that creamy but still with a teeny, tiny bit of bite stage and it's time to put in whatever you want:  vegetables, meat and always some cheese. 

What did we think?  Amazing.  Connie suggested that we implement a separate risotto rating system since most of it is a 4 or a 5 on our rating scale.  Now, that's coming from the man who has always declared anything other than a 1-5 scale to be superfluous!

Shitake and Duck Risotto

Ingredients:
2-3 cups chicken broth (homemade stock is best)
1 c duck stock (substitute chicken stock if desired)
1 medium onion, diced
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1 T olive oil
1 T butter
1 c Arborio rice
3/4 c dry white wine
1 duck confit leg and thigh, reserve the skin and fat
8 oz shitake mushrooms
1 T olive oil
2 T duck fat
1/2 c finely grated romano cheese

Directions:

Prepare basic risotto.  Melt a tablespoon of butter in a large saucepan.  Pour in a tablespoon of olive oil.  Saute the onion in the butter/olive oil mixture.  When it's softened, add the garlic.  Cook for about a minute then add the arborio rice.  Stir to make sure it's thoroughly coated by the butter.  Allow the rice to brown just slightly, then pour in the white wine.  It'll be absorbed quickly.  Add the warm chicken broth very slowly, stirring after every 1/4 - 1/2 cup.  It's the stirring that causes the risotto to be nice and creamy so grab a glass of wine and stand by the stove and stir, stir, stir. 

While the risotto is cooking get the rest of your ingredients together.  Shred duck confit.  Crisp the duck skin in a small skillet. 

Set it aside.

Pour the olive oil into a large skillet.  Remove the stems and coarsely chop the mushrooms.  Saute them in the olive oil.  Once they've started to brown, add a tablespoon of the duck fat.  Continue to saute them until they're dark brown and have started to crisp just a bit. 

Remove the mushrooms from the heat. 

Now, it's time to put your risotto together.  Finish the risotto with a tablespoon of duck fat instead of butter.  Add in the shredded duck confit,

mushrooms

and romano. 

Serve topped with a bit more shredded romano and the crispy duck skin. 

Blue Cheese, Bacon and Pecan Risotto

Our big party is in three months.  My freezers are full.  I need to use up freezer food so I have room for party food.  On the way down to the Colts game, trying to keep from being too nervous since we were up against the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs (and, I knew my radio colleague, Dean Barber, would kid the heck out of me if we lost since he lives in KC!) I focused on what I could use up from the freezer for dinner.  Chicken stock.  Risotto.  So, what's a new and different way to make it?  Is there anything in the fridge that needs to be used up?  Bacon.  Well, as it turns out, Connie loved the blue cheese, bacon and pecan dip I made a couple of weeks ago.  What if I turned that into risotto?


Problem solved.  On to reading cooking magazines.  So, I turn the page in whatever one I was working on and the next recipe is a risotto with bacon and taleggio cheese.  This happens all the time.  I make something up then see a recipe. But, I was going to stick with the blue cheese and pecans.


We won the game - by the skin of our teeth - but we won.  Whew!  The usual crew was not going to meet at the Lockerbie Pub for burgers because we'd all gotten together the evening before.  So, it was home to make risotto.  Now, for those of you who follow recipes and have to have measurements, I apologize.  Some of this is a guess because I was just tossing stuff in.


What did we think?  Connie liked it but it'd not be on his list of his favorite risottos.  I liked it a bit more than he did but it'd also not be on my list of my favorite risottos.  I'll keep the blue cheese, pecan and bacon combo in a party dip.  I guess I'd say we prefer risottos with vegetables - well, except for the short rib risotto that I have to blog about someday!

Blue Cheese, Pecan and Bacon Risotto

serves 4

Ingredients:
2 bunches green onions, chopped
2 T olive oil
2 T butter
1 c Arborio rice
1/4 c white wine
4 c chicken stock
6 slices bacon, browned and crumbled
1/4 c crumbled blue cheese
1/3 c pecans, toasted
4 poached eggs

Directions:


Saute the green onions in the olive oil. 

Add the butter and the rice and saute until the rice is lightly browned. 

Pour in the white wine and stir until it's absorbed.  Add the chicken stock 1/2 cup at a time, stirring until it's absorbed. 

When the rice is done - not crunchy, not mushy but a little bit chewy - and the broth is all absorbed, stir in the blue cheese. 

Once it's melted in, add the bacon and pecans. 

I topped each serving with a poached egg just because it sounded good... 

Corn Risotto

Corn Risotto?  Is this another of Kate's funky ideas?  Nope, blame this one on Cat Cora.  We make risotto often.  Well, ofen for us.  Probably once a month.  Why in the world would you combine two starches?  Because it's really good.  Especially if it's drizzled with white truffle oil.  Of course, as Connie says, you could probably drizzle dog poop with white truffle oil and it'd taste good.  I remember the first time he bought the stuff at the grocery store.  He called (this is not unusual - either my list is lacking or his hunting skills are lacking and we need to touch base while he's shopping)  Do you have ANY clue how expensive this stuff is????  No, please tell me.  It's FOURTEEN dollars a can.  Holy COW, really.  Would I be calling you if it was cheap?  No, I guess not but the recipe is pretty specific.  We need the stuff.  So, let's go ahead and spend the money and get it.  We're about to have to buy our second bottle.  This white truffle oil has turned out to be something that can totally make a dish.  And, this one is an example.  It was pretty blah.  We'd both given it a three and were about a third of the way thru our servings.  Then, the light bulb went on.  I dashed in the house and grabbed the truffle oil.  Voila, a four

Corn Risotto

Ingredients:
3-4 cups chicken broth (homemade stock is best)
1 medium onion, diced
1 T olive oil
1 T butter
1 c Arborio rice
3/4 c dry white wine
3 roasted banana peppers, finely diced
3/4 c roasted corn, cut off the ear
1/2 c finely shredded romano cheese
white truffle oil for drizzling

Directions:

Heat (or in my case, thaw) the chicken broth/stock.  It should just be steaming.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan.  Add the olive oil, then the onion. 

Cook until the onion is translucent.

Add the rice and cook until it is just slightly browned.  You just want to get the flavor kicked up a little bit.

Pour in the wine and stir until it's absorbed.  The stirring is really important while making risotto.  It's something about disturbing the grains of rice...

Add the chicken broth/stock about 1/2 c at a time, stirring until it's absorbed before adding any more.

When the rice is the right texture - no more crunchy center, firm and a little bit chewy, not soggy or mushy - remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the corn, peppers and romano. 

Serve drizzled with a little white truffle oil. 

adapted from Cat Cora's Classics with a Twist

Pea N'Pork Risotto

Our first visit of the season to the farmers market!  How wonderful it was to be back there. We stopped by the Hickory Works stand and replenished our supply of shagbark hickory syrup.  We'll go visit them someday and see how the stuff is made.  That ought to rival the tomato farm trip.  Then, we bought a couple of heirloom tomatoes, a bunch of herb plants and some perennials for the new bed in the front.  The big snag of the day was a bag of pea shoots.  I remembered cutting out a recipe for a three pea risotto.  Pea shoots, pea pods, peas and brie cheese.  I knew there was no way I'd find the recipe in the mountain of recipes residing next to my chair.  So, I bought the pea shoots and figured I'd come close enough.  While making the bacon, sausage and ham skewers for the MOPS party tomorrow, I realized I had some leftover bacon and pork sausage links.  Hmmm, pork and peas play well together. 

Pea and Pork Risotto

Olive oil
Butter
Onion, chopped
Arborio rice
white wine
garlic
chicken broth
brie cheese
bacon, cooked and crumbled
pork sausage links, cooked and diced
frozen petite peas
 pea shoots
white truffle oil
parmesan cheese, shredded

Risotto is one of those dishes that as long as you know the basics, you can make the recipe for as many servings as you like.  The basics are to saute the onion in a mix of olive oil and butter.  Pour in the rice and get it nice and brown.  Pour in the white wine and stir til it's absorbed.  Start adding the broth about 1/2 cup at a time and stir til it's absorbed.  Once the rice is nice and creamy (btw - all that stirring disturbs the rice and causes it to become creamy) add in the last ingredients and serve.  We gave this one a 5*.

Risotto

Both of us love risotto.  It's a perfect meal after a hectic day.  You've got to stand there and stir.  You can't hurry it.  Kind of forces you to relax.  I've gotten braver with risotto as I 've cooked it more.  Started with just mushrooms and romano cheese.  Then, we discovered how wonderful white truffle oil is in that mix.  So, that became my new go-to dish.  One of the primary ingredients is chicken broth.  I'm a big fan of making my own.  I throw a chicken in a pot with some celery, carrots, onions, black peppercorns and whatever herbs I feel like.  Once the chicken is cooked, I cook down the broth.  Then, I refrigerate it over night and skim the fat off it the next morning.  I've always got several pints of homemade broth in the freezer ready for making risotto.  Last night our friends Donna and Phil drove down from Lafayette for dinner.  It was kind of a last minute deal and I knew I'd not escape the office at a reasonable time, so risotto it was. 

Shrimp, Spinach and Feta Risotto

1 T olive oil
1 T butter
1/2 white onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 shallot, finely diced ( Penzey's freeze dried)
1 c Arborio rice
1/4 c white wine
4-5 c chicken broth (preferably homemade), simmer in a saucepan
2 t white truffle oil (optional)
1/2 pound shrimp (25-30/pound size)
2 c fresh spinach
1/2 c crumbled feta (plus more for serving)

Melt the butter.  Add the olive oil, onion, garlic and shallot.  Stir until softened.  Pour in the rice and stir until it's shiny.  Pour in the white wine and stir until it's absorbed.  Add the broth 1/2 c at a time.  Stir until each addition of the broth is absorbed.  When the rice has reached a creamy consistency and the broth is absorbed, stir in the shrimp, spinach and feta.  Serve immediately.  Pass more crumbled feta for topping.