I adore risotto - and I felt rather excited when I saw my new diet allows as much rice as you want. Only one plateful I expect, I don't think they realise how much I love rice. I don't think I've written about rice before, largely because for much of my life I'm theoretically on a sort of low-carb regime - not very regimented usually. So I don't eat it often.
Having eaten a vast bowl of fruit salad for breakfast, I had a couple of greengages at one o'clock, so it was not surprising we were hungry during our trip to see the glass in Canterbury cathedral. We then had a late lunch, and by this time there was no possibility of cooking the ox cheeks I bought yesterday. So the answer to supper had to be pasta or risotto.
What I would love is dishes like pumpkin, spinach or mushroom, or gorgonzola risotto, or even risotto with raddicchio which I've had in Italy. However, I am catering for Fussypants Central here - so I am restricted in what I can cook. I made a version risi e bisi which is usually a rather soupy venetian risotto - mine is nothing like it really.
Chop a small onion or a couple of shallots and soften them in 30g butter, stir in about 300g arborio rice, chop up some ham into strips or squares and add that. Make up a litre of hot stock (on this occasion I used a Knorr stock pot, because my own stock was frozen) and when the rice is suitably coated with butter add a little at a time, stirring it on a low heat until the liquid is absorbed, add a little more stock. This is a nice slow process and cannot be ignored - if you fancy just standing and staring for 20 minutes, make a risotto. With the second addition of stock pour in "a cup" of frozen peas, or more. Continue stirring and adding stock, when the grains are at the consistency that you want to eat them, turn off the heat, add another lump of butter, and 15g or so of grated parmesan. Cover the saucepan and leave it to stand for 5 minutes, then eat. With more parmesan if necessary. I also added some chopped parsley to this..
Having eaten a vast bowl of fruit salad for breakfast, I had a couple of greengages at one o'clock, so it was not surprising we were hungry during our trip to see the glass in Canterbury cathedral. We then had a late lunch, and by this time there was no possibility of cooking the ox cheeks I bought yesterday. So the answer to supper had to be pasta or risotto.
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| This looks a bit like my risotto - I just can't get into the habit of photographing my food. |
Chop a small onion or a couple of shallots and soften them in 30g butter, stir in about 300g arborio rice, chop up some ham into strips or squares and add that. Make up a litre of hot stock (on this occasion I used a Knorr stock pot, because my own stock was frozen) and when the rice is suitably coated with butter add a little at a time, stirring it on a low heat until the liquid is absorbed, add a little more stock. This is a nice slow process and cannot be ignored - if you fancy just standing and staring for 20 minutes, make a risotto. With the second addition of stock pour in "a cup" of frozen peas, or more. Continue stirring and adding stock, when the grains are at the consistency that you want to eat them, turn off the heat, add another lump of butter, and 15g or so of grated parmesan. Cover the saucepan and leave it to stand for 5 minutes, then eat. With more parmesan if necessary. I also added some chopped parsley to this..
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