Basic Risotto

We love rice. I think I could live on rice. But, plain white rice with butter – or a bit of soy sauce – can get a little boring. So, here’s a recipe for Risotto to which you can add assorted vegetables, or even a little bacon or pancetta.

Ingredients:

1 Tbls. butter
1 Tbls. Olive oil
1 cup Arborio rice
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 shallot, minced
2 Tbls. fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
3 cups chicken stock – heated (I used Wolfgang Puck)
4 Tbls fresh parmesan cheese
Salt and Pepper to taste

Suggested optional items to add –mushrooms, zucchini, dash of cayenne pepper, peas. I would sauté whatever vegetables you want to add, and add them to rice with the last bit of chicken stock. You could sauté some pancetta or regular bacon first and use some of the grease in place of the butter and olive oil. For a lemon risotto, you could grate some lemon zest, and replace some of the chicken stock with fresh lemon juice. In this case I might replace the parsley with some fresh basil.


Directions:

Melt butter and olive oil in large skillet; add garlic and shallots. Sauté for a moment; add rice. Stir to combine.

Add heated chicken stock, ¼ - ½ cup at a time. Stir after each addition, and cook until liquid is completely evaporated before adding more liquid.

When adding the last of the chicken stock, add the parsley and the cheese. Cook until liquid is completely evaporated.