My favorite go-to “impress the guests” dish is a standard, creamy risotto. Its texture and rich flavor always manage to please a crowd. You’ve probably heard the rumors that Risotto is difficult to get right.  But actually, it’s not as difficult as it looks; it’s just time consuming and in need of some attention and TLC.  A true labor of love.

Risotto!

I like risotto as a main dish, but this vegetable risotto also makes a great side dish to London broil, baked chicken, salmon or scallops.

With risotto, timing is everything.  You’ll want to make sure you have about 1.25 – 1.5 hours before you’re ready to serve the dinner.  Here’s what you’ll need:

Vegetable Risotto – Approx. 6 dinner servings, 8-10 side servings

Ingredients:

1. 2 cups Risotto Rice or Arborio rice.  (see below for my favorite kind!)
2. 1 large onion or 2 medium ones, diced (optional.)
3. 6 garlic cloves, chopped small
4. Olive oil, about 4 tablespoons
5. White wine – ¾ cup
6. Chicken Stock – 6 cups (I prefer the whole fat and regular sodium kind, for flavor reasons, but you could use low fat/sodium.  In this case, you may need extra salt/pepper)
7. Grated Parmasean
8. Vegetables – any kind, and the amount doesn’t matter – put in as much or as little as you like! My favorite combination is beets or mushrooms and spinach. Some of my favorites vegies to add:
   1. Baby Bella or button mushrooms (fresh, not canned)
   2. Baby spinach (the salad kind that comes in a bag works well)
   3. Cherry Tomatoes, halved
   4. Beets, diced (fresh, NOT pickled.)
   5. Asparagus
   6. Peas
   7. Any cooking green – swiss chard, mustard greens, etc.

Directions:

1. Get two pans – a very large, deep skillet or a stock pot, and a small soup pot. Put the 6 cups of chick broth over med-lowheat in the smaller pot – this is to keep the chicken broth warm, you will not add anything to this pot.
2. Pour olive oil in large skillet/pot, dice onions and garlic and add.  Cook  for 5-8 minutes, until onions are clear.  Stir occasionally, so they don’t burn.
3. Add Risotto rice.  Stir with onions, glaric and olive oil, until well coated.
4. Add wine.  Here’s where the labor begins.  Slowly stir the rice until the wine is absorbed.  You should pretty much be constantly stirring from here on out.  Not fast – it can be slow, you just want to mix in the liquid and ensure nothing burns.
5. Once wine is absorbed, slowly add the chicken broth.  Start by adding about 1/3 to 1/2 a cup at a time.  Stir until absorbed, about 4 or so minutes.  One absorbed, add another half cup.  Stir until absorbed, about four minutes.
6. While stirring in the warm chicken broth, keep the risotto on a medium heat – make sure it’s not so hot the rice on the bottom burns.
7. If you’re adding beets or mushrooms add them after you add the first ½ cup of chicken broth, so they can cook.  (As a side note, if you choose to add beets they will turn your risotto red, watch out if that doesn’t sound appetizing to you!)
8. When you have about a one cup of chicken broth left, add any other vegetables to the pot, so they can cook a little, but not too much.  If you’re adding baby spinach, wait until the very end, when you pour the last of your broth.

10.  Before you pour in what looks like the last of your broth, taste the risotto. It should be  al Dente, like a pasta.  If it’s still very crunchy, you may need to add ½ cup water after the last of the chicken broth, to allow it to cook a bit longer.

11.  When it has the texture of pasta when you taste it, and all of the liquid you’ve added is absorbed so that it looks like the  creamy risotto you’ve seen before, add the parm.  I’ll add about a cup, but that may be too much for some people.  I suggest adding a ½ cup, and then tasting.  It’ll depend on how sharp your parm is, and how much of a rich cheese flavor you like.

***Another addition: If you’re adding beets, try also adding goat cheese, cubed into small chucks along with parm.

Here’s the whole process!