Friday, November 21, 2008

Onion & Leek Risotto





On the way here I bought a few magazines to read on the plane, and one of them had a whole bunch of risotto recipes. I've never made risotto before, but there were enough recipes in the magazine for me to recognize a common formula, which is basically: add fat to a pan, cook your onion/garlic/shallot, add rice, saute until transparent, add broth slowly, add other ingredients, garnish, eat!

The article that I read was a little snobby (the author claimed to never order risotto at restaurants because no one could execute it as well as she could) and also overemphasized the importance of stirring (I think the problem was that the restaurants weren't stirring enough). So I got a kick out of this video where Mario Batali basically says that stirring is overrated. Since it's less work for me, I'm going to use the Batali method here!

The leeks looked awesome at the market this week, so I decided to try an onion and leek risotto for my first attempt. Only try this is you really like onion-y flavors (I'm living alone for the next few months, so I don't have to worry about bothering anyone with my dragon breath). You could easily adapt this recipe and leave out the leeks, and reduce the amount of onion - in that case though, you wouldn't want to skip the parm cheese.

Translucent rice, pre-broth.


Onion & Leek Risotto

2 tbsp butter, divided
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 large spanish onion
2 medium-size leeks
1 clove garlic
1 1/2 cup risotto
1/2 cup white wine (optional)
4 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup parmasian cheese (optional)

Add 1 tbsp butter and 1tbsp olive oil to medium-size pan. Dice the onion and leeks - add them to the pan once butter is melted and sautee until translucent. Add diced garlic clove and sautee, stirring, for about 1 minute.

Add the risotto and sautee, stirring, until the risotto is translucent (I like to keep a few raw grains near the pan for reference). When it's translucent, add the wine if you want to use it, then add just enough broth to cover the rice. Let it simmer until the rice has absorbed all of that broth, then again add just enough to cover the rice. Keep doing this until the risotto is cooked through and tender.

Take the pan off the heat and stir in the parmasan cheese and tbsp of butter.

Enjoy!

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