I've made this a lot, as you can see
Note: This subject is now in the running with fowlwear as the highest searched phrase that leads innocents to my blog. So I'm republishing this with my sister's notes. Enjoy!
Henry will eat an entire pan of this, and that's at least a couple zucchini right there. Save this for when we actually have the warmth to grow something in Central Oregon and it turns out to be zucchini.
My sister Susan won a cooking contest with this recipe many years ago, and it is truly a winner. However, two of my sister's four major food groups are cream and butter (merlot and chocolate being the other two), so I've lightened and simplified her recipe. This is easily a work-night dinner, providing you have risotto rice and zucchini. Or a great side to anything. And it lasts and heats up great for leftovers.
Zucchini Risotto
Buy the real Arborio rice - even Safeway carries it now. And for the love of god, don't use Kraft parmesan. Though I know you don't, do you?
2 T butter (down from my sister's 6 T - if you want to go there, be my guest)
1 C Arborio rice
4+ cups chicken stock (free-range organic, of course)
1 egg yolk (I use the whole egg, actually)
1/4 cup half-&-half or milk (Susan's original calls for heavy cream - right!)
1 T olive oil - but who measures?
3 small zucchini, sliced thin or grated if easier
1/4 cup parmesan or more
2 lg garlic cloves (admission: I use jarred chopped garlic - nothing would get cooked here if I didn't)
1 bunch scallions or chopped onions or shallots - whichever
salt/pepper
1/2 c chopped ITALIAN parsley - don't ever use the frilly garnish kind - no flavor
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/3 cup or so of white wine - whatever you're drinking at the moment
So, if you've never made risotto before, it's way easier than its reputation.First, melt 2 T of the butter and the olive oil, add the onion and saute slowly.
(Mmmm, the smell of frying onions - guaranteed to make men go wild, if you're looking for that sort of thing.)
Once they're soft, throw in the garlic (so it doesn't burn), then all the rice, with a little more oil. I know, seems weird with no liquid, but that's risotto. Stir fry the rice for a few minutes, then add about a cup of broth. Traditionally, it should be hot, which you can do in a glass pyrex cup measure in the microwave. But you don't have to.
The key to risotto is to keep adding the broth as the rice sucks it up - it should never be dry or conversely, drowned. You do have to stir regularly, though not continuously as the books would say.
Now, my sister sautes the zucchini with garlic in a separate pan, but I don't because I'm all about one-pot meals. The cheater way is to add the zuke when the rice is almost done, along with the cream, egg and parmesan, lemon, wine, salt/pepper and parsley. I throw it all in together and it comes out fine.
You'll need to correct the rice with broth or hot water if it isn't done enough or is too dry. Cook til it's done. This is where my sister adds the additional 4 tablespoons of butter. Because it's not rich enough.
I'm realizing it's really hard to write recipes down when you cook intuitively. If you'd like a step-by-step explanation of risotto, you'll need to use a cookbook.
Notes from my sister:
"Oh, for heaven's sake-- one-quarter cup of heavy cream in a recipe with a quart of chicken stock isn't going to kill you. I won the cooking contest many years ago, when risotto was wildly ambitious. The reason you should saute the zucchini beforehand is that it holds its shape better. If you just add it raw (wrong! wrong!) it turns to mush and becomes one with the rice. There. The genie has spoken."
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