FLDG CHALLENGE: Make up your own risotto!

[Jenise]

The objective: make risotto without a recipe. Create your new risotto with ingredients you already have on hand. Bend a classic or think outside the box.

The rules: only one. NO SHOPPING.

Time limit: between now and New Years Eve. Report your results in this thread. Who's in?

I'd like to enter, but I have so many leftovers to eat up between now and New Years that I doubt if I'll be cooking anything else from scratch. I will, however, be watching this thread with great anticipation.

I think I just might be able to do something with this one.

[Jenise]

I'd like to enter, but I have so many leftovers to eat up between now and New Years that I doubt if I'll be cooking anything else from scratch. I will, however, be watching this thread with great anticipation.

Howie, maybe this is how you use your leftovers!

I'm done. Here's my recipe. It was very tasty.

Red Chile Risotto

About 7 cups chicken or vegetable stock, as needed
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
½ cup minced onion or spring onion
Salt, preferably kosher salt, to taste
1 ½ cups arborio or carnaroli rice
1 garlic clove, minced
½ cup dry white wine, such as pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc
3 Tbsp. Red Chile Powder, such as Chimayo
Freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. Put your stock or broth into a saucepan, and bring it to a simmer over low heat with a ladle nearby or in the pot. Make sure the broth is well seasoned.

2. Heat the oil in a wide, heavy nonstick skillet or saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and ½ teaspoon salt, and cook gently until tender and translucent, about five minutes. Add the rice and garlic, and stir until the grains of rice are separate and beginning to crackle. Add the wine and the chile powder, and stir until it has been absorbed. Begin adding the simmering stock two ladlefuls (about ½ cup) at a time. The stock should just cover the rice and should be bubbling, not too slowly nor too quickly. Cook, stirring often, until the liquid is about absorbed. Add another ladleful or two of the stock, and continue to cook in this fashion, adding more stock when the rice is almost dry and stirring, for 10 minutes. Taste now and correct seasoning. The rice should be just tender, or al dente.

3. Add another ladleful or two of stock to the rice. Stir in the pepper, parsley and the Parmesan, and remove from the heat. The mixture should be creamy (add more stock if it is not). Stir once, and serve right away in wide soup bowls or on plates, spreading the risotto in a thin layer rather than lumping in a mound.

Serves 4-6


rwj

[Jenise]

So Speedy Gonzales told the girl, "Have sex with me, you'll love it." She responded, "I will?" And he said, "You did!"

I don't know about you reminded me of that.

Love love love chile flavors, and I've done a lot of crossover risottos, but that red chile never occurred to me. Now that you've made it do so, sounds GREAT. Let's take that idea further: Italian-Southwestern fusion combo plate. The beans are easy: white, with garlic and possibly rosemary. What else shall we put on our fantasy plate? How about a chile relleno stuffed with teleggio?

Rice I have. Let's see what can be made with it. More later.

So Speedy Gonzales told the girl, "Have sex with me, you'll love it." She responded, "I will?" And he said, "You did!"

I don't know about you reminded me of that.

Love love love chile flavors, and I've done a lot of crossover risottos, but that red chile never occurred to me. Now that you've made it do so, sounds GREAT. Let's take that idea further: Italian-Southwestern fusion combo plate. The beans are easy: white, with garlic and possibly rosemary. What else shall we put on our fantasy plate? How about a chile relleno stuffed with teleggio?

Gee, you know me so well.

How about Green Chile and Asadero Polenta to serve along side that relleno?

rwj

[Jenise]

Gee, you know me so well.

Well let's be clear: not THAT well!

[/quote]How about Green Chile and Asadero Polenta to serve along side that relleno?

rwj[/quote]

Love that with the relleno alone, but that triples down on the carbs along the rice and beans if we were to include both of those. How would you Italianate a taco?

MATILDA’S TOMATO RISOTTO

1 cup cherry tomatoes (from the garden): cut in half and sauté till they are wilting. Set aside.
1 onion, 1 clove garlic: chop both, sauté in butter till golden.
Add 1½ cups arborio rice: stir into the onion and garlic.
Add 750 ml hot chicken stock, one ladleful at a time, allowing each ladleful to be absorbed before adding the next. Cook with lid on till rice is tender, stirring from time to time.
Stir in the sautéed tomatoes, 1/3 cup of chopped dried tomatoes, ¾ tsp of bruised and chopped fresh rosemary leaves (from the garden).
Serve with a sprinkle of grated cheese (parmesan or pecorino if available), a generous grind of black pepper, and some steamed or grilled asparagus spears.


The verdict: tasty, simple.

Cooking the rice took me about 25 minutes, so fairly quick. It would have been better with fresh parmesan or pecorino, but there was none on hand so I used a sharp cheddar instead. That was OK, but if anyone sets out to make this, get some parmesan or pecorino in for the purpose. And don’t be shy with the amount of butter you use to sauté the onions.

We ate it at lunch time today, and it’s a hot day. Our drink was lemon squash. If eating this at the evening meal I would open a light bodied spicy red wine – perhaps grenache or a grenache-shiraz blend. It would also go quite well with a malty beer.

This amount of risotto was enough to serve four people, so we will be having it again tomorrow.

Matilda's Tomato Risotto 30 Dec 09.jpg

Gee, you know me so well.

Well let's be clear: not THAT well!

How about Green Chile and Asadero Polenta to serve along side that relleno?

rwj[/quote]

Love that with the relleno alone, but that triples down on the carbs along the rice and beans if we were to include both of those. How would you Italianate a taco?[/quote]

Oh, I get what you're saying. At first I thought you were just putting together some arbitrary plate.

Osso Buco Taco?

rwj

Here's Pete's contribution:

mushroom risotto.jpg

It's made with rehydrated wild mushrooms, porcini oil, organic garlic, vegetable stock, mushroom soaking liquid, a little lemon juice, white wine and cream, then topped with buffalo parmesan and EVOO.

Great idea, Jenise, thank you!

[Jenise]

Oh, I get what you're saying. At first I thought you were just putting together some arbitrary plate.

Osso Buco Taco?

rwj

Hmmm...I like that! Then let's skip the tomato and cheese and top it with hot, lightly wilted escarole with a pinch of red chile flakes and spritzed with a shot of vinegar.

I'm liking this....

[Jenise]

Matilda,

good job, you really got into the spirit of it. I'm making my dish, whatever it will be, tonight, and am already have a cheese problem. I don't believe I have any parm on hand, and I possibly don't even have cheddar. Just a bit of spanish blue, a Tomme de Savoie that isn't cooking cheese, and some aged friulian white cheese. Also, may have a bigger problem (though a source of opportunity)--I know I bought a box of Carnaroli rice during The Incarceration on one of those days I felt freedom coming soon and indulged myself, but darn if I can figure out where it went. I may make a barlotto, since I bought barley for a beef soup a week ago that I never got around to making.

Celia, that looks wonderful! Clearly we didn't catch Pete with any pantry issues!

Celia, that looks wonderful! Clearly we didn't catch Pete with any pantry issues!

Aaah, but we haven't been remodeling our kitchen for 49 weeks, Jenise, so our larder was well provisioned!

I bought myself the wild mushrooms as a Christmas present, and the porcini oil and EVOO were under the Christmas tree!

Cheers, Celia

RCP: Wild Mushroom Risotto

2 1/4 cups chicken broth (home made is best)
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf

1 TBSP olive oil
3 large leeks, white and tender green parts, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 oz, fresh wild mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup + 2 TBSP. Arborio rice
1/4 cup dry white wine
S & p
2 TBSP freshly grated Parmesan

In saucepan, combine and bring to boil, broth, thyme and bay leaves. Reduce heat to low, keep at a simmer.
In oil, sauté leeks and garlic until very soft but not browned. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring constantly, until mushrooms are softened. Add rice and cook until the edges of the rice are translucent, about three minutes. Add wine and cook, stirring, until nearly all the wine is absorbed.
Continue adding stock about 1/2 cup at a time and cook, stirring constantly. Allow each addition to be nearly absorbed before adding the next, until rice is creamy but still firm in the center. Adjust seasoning with s & p. Remove pan from heat, plate up and sprinkle with Parmesan.

Leftover Beef Risotto

~6 cups rich beef stock (from rib bones)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 small red onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
1/2 cup red wine
1/8 - 1/4 Tsp cayenne pepper (to taste)
~1 cup leftover prime rib, trimmed and cut into 1/2" cubes
1 Tbsp lemon zest (Microplaned, if possible)
1 Tbsp butter
1 cup grated Parmigiano
Salt and pepper to taste

Make this as per the typical risotto method, using the red wine as the first addition to the rice and the broth from there on out. Mix about 3/4 of the cheese in with the finished risotto, using the rest as a garnish once it's in the bowls.

It could also be called "Red Risotto", given the red onion, red wine, red meat, and red pepper but it really comes out more of a brown color. Some mushrooms would have also been good in this but we didn't have any handy.

Carrot and Butternut Squash Risotto with Woodear Mushrooms and Duck Confit

WFLDG Risotto Challenge 009.jpg

all ingredients are approximate

2 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 C butternut squash, diced
1/4 C carrots, diced
2 Tbsp woodear mushrooms, reconstituted and minced
1 small shallot diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 C aborio rice
1-1/2 C chicken stock
2 Tbsp confit gelatin
1-1/2 C water
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
2 Tbsp grated parmesan
pepper to taste
shredded duck confit (optional)
shaved parmesan (optional)

In a small saucepan, heat chicken stock, confit gelatin and water and maintain a low simmer. In a separate pan over medium heat, heat olive oil, add shallots, squash, carrot and mushrooms and saute til shallots are translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, rice, coriander and nutmeg and saute another 2 minutes making certain all rice grains are coated with oil and garlic and spices are aromatic. Add 1.5 C of the stock, reduce heat to a simmer and stir until most of liquid is absorbed. Continue to add stock about 1/2 C at a time, stirring to incorporate. With the final 1/2 C of liquid, add grated parmesan. Season with black pepper. Plate and add duck and shaved parmesan to garnish.

WFLDG Risotto Challenge 010.jpg

Wow, Jo Ann! That looks great! Duck always seems something really special to me, it is not a meat I eat often.

Wow, Jo Ann! That looks great! Duck always seems something really special to me, it is not a meat I eat often.

Thanks, Matilda
It really was quite an amazingly good risotto. One of the best I ever made. The flavor of the duck gelatin came through and the spices were a perfect compliment to the butternut and carrots. There was just enough parmesan to add creaminess to the rice and the chewiness of the woodear mushrooms added an almost nutlike flavor and crunch -- just enough to be interesting against the (just) softness of the vegetables, the al dente texture of the rice and the silkiness of the duck meat. Think I'll have the rest wtih tea for breakfast this morning. YUM!

[Jenise]

Gorgeous, Jo Ann. Love pix!

Mike, yours sounds pretty delicious. I take it you'd make this again?

Karen--just a recipe, but no comments?

[Jenise]

Okay, for mine, I actually spent the day in a quandary about what to do. I kinda had one idea in mind if I found the rice, and another if I had to use barley. The latter was going to be vegetarian and involved escarole and broccolini, however, and when it came time to make the dish it turned out my escarole had turned brown and slimey and the broccolini had turned yellow. Had it really been THAT long since I purchased them? Apparently so! Good thing, at the last minute, I found the rice (in our bedroom--such are the vagaries of a house under construction). I also had a ham, a really good thing, one carrot so wilted the peeler wouldn't peel it, and a single garnet yam and one rather tired roma tomato. For cheese, I had, as feared, no parm. But I did have something I didn't remember, a piquant Friulian cheese that I hoped would melt. And while rooting around in our bedroom, in the same bag the Carnaroli rice was in, I found a box of Maldon smoked salt.

I contemplated all these ingredients while we gnoshed on a mixed antipasti of peppered salami, lucques olives and fresh, sweet winter radishes. And what came through vividly was the memory of the first risotto I ever had. I had just met and fallen in love with Bob, and he took me to Chicago for a weekend. We stayed at the Drake and he took me to an upscale hot spot at the Omni Hotel for dinner. Risotto was not common 20 years ago the way it is now--you couldn't buy arborio rice in a supermarket--and it was a dish I'd been reading about for years and was dying to have. I recall that the one I ordered had asparagus, pancetta, leeks and gruyere cheese, and the latter might have been smoked as I recall tht the dish was permeated with a mild smokey flavor. All the components were chopped up very fine, like confetti.

With that inspiration I poured a quart and a half of chicken broth into a pan and added half the yam, hoping to add color and an echo of unusual flavor to the background of the dish. I probably was also attracted, in a Dr. Seuss kind of way, to the idea of having both 'ham' and 'yam' in the title of my dish. Also into the pan went the roma tomato, cut in half, and that sorry old carrot. Those simmered for about an hour while I made a salad, which I planned to serve AFTER, and readied my mis en place of finely diced white onion and a clove of garlic (no shallots on hand), about 3/4 c of finely diced ham, about half a cup of the Friulian cheese, a Piedmontese white wine called Coccociola which I was also sipping on while I worked, the smoked maldon salt, parsley, chives, a little cream, and the green stems of the yellowed broccolini, trimmed and cut into about 1/8" rounds. I diced the remainder of the yam and quickly panfried the diced for a garnish--they got a bit away from me, as you'll see, but they did not taste burnt so I went with them.

Eventually I strained the broth, and from there I went about making a risotto in the usual way--you all know the drill. From start to finish it was up and on the plates in 16 minutes, 1-2 minutes earlier than expected but the rice was ready so there you go. The result was maybe the best risotto I've ever made--perfect in every way, and a terrific knockoff of the dish I remember. I actually prefer risotto just a tiny bit looser than what I made, but having not unpacked bowls yet and having to serve on plates I made it as creamy as I could get away with and yet not have it spread flat. The wine I served with the dish was a 2001 Lonardi Ripasso, a lighter styled Ripasso that was just right for the dish and perfect for drinking now.

Something that I thought was pretty cool: about three bites into the dish, Bob volunteered "Now I get why we're having salad AFTER. This dish can't wait, can it, there's this short window of perfection and you have to serve it while it's perfect. Restaurant risotto is never this good." YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.

Here's a pic:

DSC04838-1.JPG

That's some good looking risotto, Jenise! I love the glittering little burnished nuggets of squash scattered around. Kudos to Bob for appreciating the homemade difference.

Er, do you always keep rice in your bedroom? Not that I want you to divulge TOO much of your personal, ah, preferences. But I'm always looking for a new hobby.....

So I tried the risotto challenge myself last night. Despite not having rice.

Not exactly the brightest bulb in the lamp, it didn't strike me that all the groceries in my area would be closed by the time I got out of work on New Year's Eve. So yesterday I drove home without being able to stock up on provisions.

However, I remembered an old trick that my friend's mom from the Dominican Republic used to pull once in a while. She made "risotto" from pasta. It was good, too, if memory serves. But for some reason I never tried it myself.

Last night I did.

And it worked great!

I took some plain ol' dried spaghetti and broke it up into small bits. Then I saute'd the bits in olive oil with some chopped onion (for less time than I'd saute rice, since dry pasta will brown/burn more quickly of course). Then a splash of white wine to reduce, and then the usual slow stock addition (I used roast turkey stock I made from the Christmas bird). Butter and a handfull of grated Parm at the end, and a little parsley. That was it - no "con fungi", "marinara" or any of that jazz. Just plain pasta "risotto".

Wifey and I both raised our glasses in the general direction of the DR. We hoped.

gnoshed

I would spell that "noshed". Are you Gnostic, perhaps?