If you have read my rambling for a while, you probably know that I really enjoy cooking. The challenge is that most of the family shares this interest, so I often go a while without getting to prepare something for everyone.
Happily, this weekend I got both Saturday and Sunday night dinners offered up!
Obviously, the thing to do is a pair of linked dinners, so I have an excuse to make sure I get both.
First night
Ingredients:
- 6 cups of chicken broth
- 2 cups arborio rice
- 1 cup finely chopped yellow onion
- Butter – supposed to be 3 T, but I used a bit more
- 7oz Crimini mushrooms
- 5 oz asparagus
- 3 oz grated parmesan cheese
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Wine – you’ll see…
Yep … Risotto!
First thing to know is this: this requires 3 cooking vessels. Could be 2 pots and a pan, or some people use a pot, a pan, and an electric kettle. For me, it’s all done on the stove.
Initially, the distribution is:
Pot – 2 T butter, medium heat, onion goes in to sweat.
Pan – 1 T butter, medium-high heat, Criminis go in, coarsely sliced
Second pot (smaller – this is where some use a kettle) – all of the chicken stock, medium heat until just shy of a simmer, then drop slightly so it stays barely short of that simmer.
Once the onions sweat down to translucent, the Arborio gets added to it, and stirred until every grain is well coated with the remaining butter. Keep this regularly stirred, to avoid browning of either onion or rice, until the rice also gets translucent on the edges.
In the pan, once the mushrooms are nicely browned, they come out and the asparagus goes in. Add a small bit of butter, if the mushrooms don’t leave enough to coat the asparagus.
Asparagus joins the mushrooms when cooked to vibrantly green, slightly brown on a few edges, but not soggy. Keep them warm.
Now, the fun part.
Once the onions and rice are ready (rice nicely translucent on all edges), I tick the heat up to medium, give it a minute for the pot to catch up, then in goes the wine.
Some recipes call for a cup of wine. Some call for it to go into the chicken stock.
I go right into the hot pot with the win e, and pour enough so that the evenly spread out rice gets wine to just even with the top of it.
Now, stir.
No, not “constantly,” but don’t let it remain still for more than a minute or two, from this point forward, until done.
Once the wine has been absorbed by the rice, start adding a cup of the warm broth every time the rice absorbs enough so that the stirring process exposes the bottom of the pan with the liquid not immediately refilling the space.
This process, adding/stirring/absorbing/repeating, goes until the rice grains have taken up as much of the broth as possible. It may take all of it, or it may get to the point where the rice slows it’s absorption.
Once that point is reached, kill the heat, fold in the vegetables, the lemon zest, and salt and pepper to taste … and serve!
For this batch, I went with a Pinot Grigio from Milbrandt cellars. It worked very nicely.
Second night
So, what do you do when you have “made too much risotto?”
Why, Arancini, of course.
Ingredient list:
- 3.5 cups of prepared and fully cooled Risotto
- 1.5 oz grated parmesan cheese
- 1/4 cup of breadcrumbs, plus more for coating, later
- 2 eggs
- Half-inch cubes of melting cheese and/or meats of your choice. For tonight, I used half aged cheddar and half cubed Soppressata.
Start by lining a baking pan with aluminum foil then a cooling rack.
Mix the risotto with the grated cheese and the measured breadcrumbs, until thoroughly combined.
Scoop the risotto mixture into 2.5 T balls. You should get roughly 18. With a number 50 disher, two scoops per ball.
Into each one, you press an indent into the middle, then place the filling of your choice into it, pinch it closed, and roll it into as smooth a ball as possible.
When they are all filled and rolled, break the two eggs into a bowl and whisk them thoroughly.
Pour additional breadcrumbs into a second bowl, and commence with the breading process.
Each one gets coated in egg, then in the breadcrumbs, until thoroughly covered, the placed on the cooling rack.
Set them in the refrigerator until firmly set, at least 30 minutes, then preheat the oven to 400, if you have the ability to simultaneously use Broil and Convection settings. If not, go with broiling on high, but you’ll need to be careful to closely watch when baking them.
The Arancini go in for roughly 20 minutes, on those settings. Check and turn them every 5 minutes, and be careful to not squeeze them, or you will risk losing molten fillings!
Serve hot! Many recipes say serve with marinara, but we felt no need to have it.
Tight lines.