I went on a women's retreat with my church last weekend and it was amazing. I met some really neat ladies and loved hearing their stories and gleaning wisdom from them - such a blessing to get to know others. On this trip, I met Tricia and we got to talking about cooking (one of my favorite conversations) and I said that I loved making risotto because it's so cost efficient, easy, and delicious... thus this blog.
I'm so excited to share this recipe. I used a basic recipe from weight watchers, but I made it Megan-cheap. I also love this recipe because you can mix up the ingredients and have a different dish each time. Bonus!
So first you will need ingredients. I use just plain white rice, parm. cheese, peas, salt, pepper, chicken bouillon and this time, curry. I also almost always onions, but didn't go shopping this week yet and was out.
Okay, so first heat up a pan of water. The amount really doesn't matter because you can always add more... When the water gets hot, dissolve some bouillon in it. (By the way, sometimes I make my own stock and this is even better!)
In another pan, heat up oil. When it's hot, add onions and cook for a bit. Then add rice. I tend to make a lot of it at a time because I love it for leftovers, but you do what you want. Cook the oil and rice together for about 3-5 minutes. This process gets the glutton in the rice to start working so your dish gets creamy. So don't skip it even though it seems weird.
Add your hot broth. I have a shallow ladle, so I put 2 scoops in at a time, but if you have a big one, just 1 ladle full is fine. By the way, the hot broth will just lower your cooking time, it really isn't necessary, but I like to make this in about 20 minutes, so it works for me.
Okay - so you have your rice and 2 scoops of broth. I give it a good stir and then do other things. It doesn't have to be constantly watched.
It's time to add another scoop or two of broth when you pull your spoon through the rice and the liquid is adsorbed. Like below. At this point, you do the same process over and over again until your rice is cooked and creamy. The process of browning that rice and adding liquid gradually is what makes the risotto what it is...
For this recipe, I added about 1/2 a tsp of curry to my last batch of broth for just a little kick.
Then add your veggies. I like peas (because they're easy and you can add them frozen), but I've done sauteed zucchini, roasted butternut squash... you could do anything here.
Add your cheese. I used parm (again, out of the can... easy!) but have done gouda and bleu... basically, whatever you have and lots of it makes this dish.
Stir it up, season with salt and pepper, and it's done. LOVE it.
