Risotto

Eastside Road, Healdsburg, December 20, 2008—

I THOUGHT I'D BLOGGED our risotto recipe, but I guess I hadn't; at least, I don't find it on the other site, and searching "risotto" here (use the box up above on the left) turns up lots of meals but no how-to. Well, you probably know perfectly well how to cook risotto anyhow. I chop half an onion fine fine fine and sweat it until transparent in a good bit of olive oil. (I use a big stainless-steel skillet with a heavy bottom.) I add enough rice to cover the bottom of the pan one grain deep, and fry that in the oil, gently, until the grains are half-transparent — transparent around the edges, in other words.

Meanwhile the chicken stock is simmering nearby. I add a cup of stock to the rice and continue moving it around (I use a squared-off flat wooden spatula) until the stock is fully absorbed. Then I add another cup of stock and maybe half a cup of white wine; continue until absorbed. Then another cup of stock, another half-cup of wine; move around until absorbed. Then keep going with the stock, a cup at a time, always moving the rice around, until the risotto is done. Then grate in some Parmesan cheese; dish it out, grate more cheese and grind black pepper; serve. With a green salad afterward, of course.

Of course you can add things: mushrooms (fresh or dried and soaked in white wine or stock), peas (frozen ones work fine), shrimp if you can tolerate them, finely chopped prosciutto, etc., etc.

Cheap pinot grigio