Risotto is an amazing dish-I used to think it was boring and would never order it at restaurants--now after watching my fair share of Top Chef, I can appreciate how hard risotto can be-yet so versatile (and it really is not that hard when you don't have a panel of judges trying to vote you off a show). You can really find recipes for every type of risotto--with millions of different flavor panels, some have white wine, others have meat, vegetarian, oranges, beets, whatever! I chose to make a more traditional one, with lots of cheese, some butter (yum), and some more spring vegetables! You can also use asparagus, which tastes great too! Maybe with a little lemon juice/zest?
Ingredients:
1 cup Arborio rice
2 cups (plus an extra 1/2 cup) chicken stock, heated in a saucepan to simmering
2 cup packed broccoli rabe (what I used) OR spinach, roughly chopped, or peas and asparagus!
1/2 cup Pecorino Romano cheese, grated
1 small onion
olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
two handfuls mushrooms (whatever you want), sliced
1/2 lb scallops, rinsed
Directions:
First, get your chicken stock in a saucepan and start simmering. Dice onion and add to a large pot with 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Let the onions get translucent and soft, about 7 minutes. Next, add rice, keep heat to medium, stirring often to brown the rice a little (this keeps them firm and al dente once cooked), this will take about 5 minutes. Next add about 1/2 cup of simmering chicken stock. Keep stirring until liquid is mostly absorbed, continue this pattern of adding about 1/2 cup liquid, stirring til absorbed until you have added about 2 cups of chicken stock. At this point, add the broccoli rabe, stirring until it has wilted. Now it is time to play with the consistency: Risotto should be fluid enough that when you spoon some on a plate, it fans out a bit. You don't want it to start looking like a rice casserole. I usually have to add about 2 1/4 cups to 2 1/2 cups liquid total to get this desired consistency, play with the remaining liquid, adding a little bit slowly until you get this desired consistency. At this time add the sauteed mushrooms and grated pecorino romano cheese. After you add the cheese (I like to add this first before salting as it has a lot of salt in it already), season with salt and pepper to desired flavor. When you are happy with the consistency and flavor of your risotto, turn off the heat and add two tablespoons of butter, whip the butter into the risotto-this adds a great creaminess to the risotto and keeps it nice and silky.
For mushrooms,
Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat, add mushrooms and saute til soft, add salt and pepper to flavor, set aside to add to risotto at the end.
For scallops,
Rinse the scallops and pat dry, season generously with salt and pepper. In a saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil until water dripped in fizzles. Quickly add the scallops and cook for 2 minutes on one side, flip and cook for an additional minute on other side. Make sure not to overcook scallops! They taste rubbery and gross...
For plating: Spoon some risotto on a plate and top with a few scallops, another light sprinkle of pepper and serve hot!
So I ventured outside of my comfort zone of Washington Square West earlier this week to try out a new happy hour establishment (Dock Street Brewery). For the gluten lovers-this place looked amazing. For gluten haters-like myself, the only respite was the gluten free beer they had on TAP! But this joy was quickly taken away from me as they informed me that I had gotten the last glass...So after I finished my one lonely beer, I stared at my dear friends as they ate some of the most delicious looking pizzas I had ever seen!
