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omnomnom2012-06-12 10:35 am
eleanorjane) wrote in omnomnom2012-06-12 10:35 am
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The Easiest Risotto In The Universe
In the winter - which is rapidly approaching here in Aus - I love risotto, but I don't love standing at the stove for half an hour to make it. Enter my adaptation of Dabbling In The Delicious's Forget the Stove Risotto.
INGREDIENTS
The Basics:
1.5 cups arborio rice
1.25 litres stock*
150-200g grated cheese**
1 tbsp butter
Salt & pepper to taste
The Additions:
300-400g button mushrooms
150g diced bacon/ham
1 leek
2 tsp crushed/minced garlic
* I use homemade chicken stock; you can use commercial stuff if you prefer, but if so, I recommend not adding salt to your risotto
** Parmesan gives it more bite; cheddar is cheaper.
METHOD
0. Preheat your oven at 175 C/350 F/gas mark 4.
1. Get yourself a large casserole dish. Put it away. Find a bigger one. You'll need it.
2. Tip in the rice, cheese, and prepared additions (see below). Add your salt & pepper.
3. Heat your stock, and strain out any chunky bits if you're using homemade stock. I tend to just nuke it in the microwave on High for 2 minutes.
4. Add the stock. Stir vigorously to make sure the rice is well mixed through the additions and can absorb the stock easily.
5. Add the butter.
6. Cover the dish; put in the oven.
7. Cook for ~45 minutes, stirring thoroughly once or twice during the cooking period.
8. Remove from oven, leave to stand for 5+ minutes. Note that it will look way too liquid - like rice stew - during this period. By the time it's done standing, most of the liquid will have disappeared.
9. Dish up and serve! This will make four very generous oh-god-I-ate-too-much helpings.
Preparing the additions:
1. Chop the mushrooms into bite-size pieces; I halve the smaller ones and quarter the bigger ones.
2. Throw the mushrooms into a microwave-safe jug and nuke them for 2-3 minutes on high in the microwave to soften them up and get some of the liquid out.
2. Slice the leek into rings. Rinse it well in a sieve under the tap; leeks are often gritty with dirt.
3. Heat a small amount of butter in a small frying pan.
4. Add the crushed garlic, and fry the leek rings until they start to soften.
5. Add the semi-cooked mushrooms. Keep stirring; you don't want this lot to burn.
6. Remove from the heat once the leek rings are soft.
7. Add this panful to the risotto during step 2 above.
8. Also add whatever meat you're adding to the risotto.
Notes on additions:
You can leave out any of the additions (mushrooms, leeks, bacon/ham, etc) you don't like the idea of, and substitute or add any of the following:
- other meat - I usually use diced bacon/ham but have also had success with cooked shredded chicken, or diced prosciutto or even diced salami. Just make sure that a) whatever meat you add is already cooked or cured, and b) if you're using something like salami with a lot of fat, reduce the quantity of butter you use.
- shredded spinach/baby spinach leaves
- hard-boiled eggs cut into slices/chunks
- onions
- shallots
- pine nuts
- herbs; particularly basil, thyme or oregano
- green beans or asparagus stalks, cut into ~2cm chunks
Thoughts on preparation:
* The original recipe from the URL I linked above says to add everything except the rice and stock *after* cooking. I prefer to add them first to make sure that the warmth is consistent, and to let the flavours cook through the entire dish. Nothing worse than getting a mouthful of cold ham when you're expecting warm rice.
* This is not the perfect risotto, and purists would probably hate it. I, on the other hand, am willing to put up with some impurities in exchange for standing at the stove for five minutes instead of forty-five. It's still a *good* risotto, and extremely tasty.
* It is, obviously, fairly easy to make it vegetarian/vegan.
* I haven't experimented with using other types of rice yet, but I suspect it might be doable with brown/wild rice (though one would have to adjust cooking times) for those looking for higher-fibre options.
INGREDIENTS
The Basics:
1.5 cups arborio rice
1.25 litres stock*
150-200g grated cheese**
1 tbsp butter
Salt & pepper to taste
The Additions:
300-400g button mushrooms
150g diced bacon/ham
1 leek
2 tsp crushed/minced garlic
* I use homemade chicken stock; you can use commercial stuff if you prefer, but if so, I recommend not adding salt to your risotto
** Parmesan gives it more bite; cheddar is cheaper.
METHOD
0. Preheat your oven at 175 C/350 F/gas mark 4.
1. Get yourself a large casserole dish. Put it away. Find a bigger one. You'll need it.
2. Tip in the rice, cheese, and prepared additions (see below). Add your salt & pepper.
3. Heat your stock, and strain out any chunky bits if you're using homemade stock. I tend to just nuke it in the microwave on High for 2 minutes.
4. Add the stock. Stir vigorously to make sure the rice is well mixed through the additions and can absorb the stock easily.
5. Add the butter.
6. Cover the dish; put in the oven.
7. Cook for ~45 minutes, stirring thoroughly once or twice during the cooking period.
8. Remove from oven, leave to stand for 5+ minutes. Note that it will look way too liquid - like rice stew - during this period. By the time it's done standing, most of the liquid will have disappeared.
9. Dish up and serve! This will make four very generous oh-god-I-ate-too-much helpings.
Preparing the additions:
1. Chop the mushrooms into bite-size pieces; I halve the smaller ones and quarter the bigger ones.
2. Throw the mushrooms into a microwave-safe jug and nuke them for 2-3 minutes on high in the microwave to soften them up and get some of the liquid out.
2. Slice the leek into rings. Rinse it well in a sieve under the tap; leeks are often gritty with dirt.
3. Heat a small amount of butter in a small frying pan.
4. Add the crushed garlic, and fry the leek rings until they start to soften.
5. Add the semi-cooked mushrooms. Keep stirring; you don't want this lot to burn.
6. Remove from the heat once the leek rings are soft.
7. Add this panful to the risotto during step 2 above.
8. Also add whatever meat you're adding to the risotto.
Notes on additions:
You can leave out any of the additions (mushrooms, leeks, bacon/ham, etc) you don't like the idea of, and substitute or add any of the following:
- other meat - I usually use diced bacon/ham but have also had success with cooked shredded chicken, or diced prosciutto or even diced salami. Just make sure that a) whatever meat you add is already cooked or cured, and b) if you're using something like salami with a lot of fat, reduce the quantity of butter you use.
- shredded spinach/baby spinach leaves
- hard-boiled eggs cut into slices/chunks
- onions
- shallots
- pine nuts
- herbs; particularly basil, thyme or oregano
- green beans or asparagus stalks, cut into ~2cm chunks
Thoughts on preparation:
* The original recipe from the URL I linked above says to add everything except the rice and stock *after* cooking. I prefer to add them first to make sure that the warmth is consistent, and to let the flavours cook through the entire dish. Nothing worse than getting a mouthful of cold ham when you're expecting warm rice.
* This is not the perfect risotto, and purists would probably hate it. I, on the other hand, am willing to put up with some impurities in exchange for standing at the stove for five minutes instead of forty-five. It's still a *good* risotto, and extremely tasty.
* It is, obviously, fairly easy to make it vegetarian/vegan.
* I haven't experimented with using other types of rice yet, but I suspect it might be doable with brown/wild rice (though one would have to adjust cooking times) for those looking for higher-fibre options.
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But I am a person who cannot stir that long. I have made a similar dish in the oven, but it lacked that chewy, gooey, only-risotto-has-it texture.
So, on a scale of
1 = converted rice & cheezwiz
to
10 =
how would you rate the texture of this recipe?
(Also: great recipe writing!)