[Cornette]

I made a very nice Risotto last night. With fresh spinach and blue cheese (Magor).

I wonder if you have a favorite Risotto recipe.

Cornette

[Dairy_Queen]

My lovely friend, Claire, made this dish, on a whim and she almost had to beat me off of it with a spoon! You know how protective a dog will be over it's food bowl...yeah...that bad!

APPLE RISOTTO

4-5 Cups of Chicken Stock

4 Tablespoons of Unsalted Butter

2 Tablespoons of Finely Minced Onions

1 Cup of Uncooked Italian Arborio White Rice

2 Cups of Peeled, Diced (1/4 ") Granny Smith Apples

1/3 Cup of Dry White Wine

2 Tablespoons of Freshly Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus more to taste

Salt and Nutmeg to taste

1) Heat the chicken broth in a small saucepan until boiling. Adjust the heat to a steady simmer.

2) Melt 2 Tablespoons of the butter in a heavy saucepan over low heat. Add the onion and saute for 3 minutes. Add the rice and 1 Cup of the apples, and saute, stirring, for 3 minutes. Stir in the white wine and boil, stirring, until the wine is reduced by half.

3) Add enough hot broth (about 1/2 cup) to just cover the rice. Simmer and cook, stirring constantly, until almost all of the broth has been absorbed, about 3-4 minutes.

4) Continue adding broth, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly, until all broth is absorbed and the rice is beginning to pull away from the pan. During the last 5 minutes, add the remaining 1 cup of diced apples. Cook until creamy and centr is done. Remove from heat. Cut remaining 2 Tablespoons of butter into small pieced and stir into rice with the cheese.

To serve, offer salt, nutmeg and cheese curls to taste.

[Sarape]

No recipe, but I'll tell you what I put in mine:

canned pumpkin, brown rice, oats, Grape-Nuts cereal, cinnamon, salt, apple sauce, yellow corn meal, tomato paste, non-fat dry milk.

Guess you can't call it risotta anymore. So if you have to keep it risotta, just use pumpkin, tomato paste, and brown rice.
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' She says, 'I am the glamorous type.' I said, 'So what?'

[Cornette]

Sounds great.
I never would have thought of a "sweet" risotto.

Cornette
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"The only time to eat diet food is while your waiting for the steak to cook"
Julia Child

[Rainey]

Risotto is one of those things that, once you get the proportions of liquid to rice, you just add what you've got.

I like reconsitiuted porchini mushrooms & tarragon or diced ham & asparagas or peas, sundried tomatoes & basil or fruit de mer & truffle oil. Really, whatever leftovers you've got become wonderful in risotto.

PS On the fruit de mer thing, my local Whole foods is wonderful about weighing & wrapping up 2 shrimp, some bitty little fresh clams, a couple mussles, a bit of cleaned squid, a tiny segment of firm-fleshed fish etc. and they deserve recognition and appreciation for it. It means I can make a small or modest amount of risotto with a wonderful variety of fish and not have lots of uncooked fish nagging at me from the fridge before it spoils.

[Barbara]

I like my risotto simple. I use good wine and home made chicken stock and add the best parmesan and a little unsalted butter.

But I might try the apple one - it sounds interesting.
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Barbara

[cynthiaLW]

I've made lots of various risotto recipes, but recently I had a risotto at my favorite restaurant which was simple yet very delicious. It was lemon risotto with braised shrimp on top. I'm not sure about the proportions. Usually when I make risotto, I use chicken broth, and sometimes a little white wine at the beginning. I don't think this lemon risotto had any chicken broth. It was very creamy and thick, in fact, it was molded into a rounded dome with the shrimp arranged on top. Has anyone ever made a lemon risotto?

[Cornette]

Sounds great CyntiaLW !

I think maybe they added some mascarpone? I will try this one for sure. I use vegetable broth often with my risotto's.

Cornette
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x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
"The only time to eat diet food is while your waiting for the steak to cook"
Julia Child

[Tammy]

I love risotto but have never made it. You guys have inspired me to find a simple recipe and give it a go! Might even try the apple one if I dare!

[Dairy_Queen]

[David]

Like Tammy I've never made risotto, in fact I've only had it 3 times and liked it very much. But there must have been a conjunction of the stars a few weeks ago because one of my cooking magazines had a wonderful recipe for a porcini and cremini risotto that you made sure you had left overs of so you could make fried patties a few days later, and on the cooking show (Simple Itaian??) anyway the one with the seriously anorexic but still attractive young Italian-American woman she prepared almost exactly the same dish---------------and I've already bought the dried porcinis. Will be doing it in the next few weeks.
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Vivant Linguae Mortuae!!

[Dairy_Queen]

Oy! David! Over here!!!

Please, please...pretty please... would you post the recipes for both the original risotto and the fried patties? I and my tummy would be very, very grateful.

[David]

Ok DQ, I'll make a note to bring the mag in tomorrow (we don't have a computer at home). Oh and the skinny cook on TV also did a number where she took a ball of the leftovers, inserted a cube of mozzarella, rolled it in bread crumbs and deep fried it! Crunchy on the outside, firm and moist inside that and creamy and runny in the centre.
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Vivant Linguae Mortuae!!

[Sarape]

Just remembered that Emirl made a fancy risotta last night (Monday night). It included chicken chunks, mushrooms, a couple of different cheeses, chives, onions, hot peppers and more. It looked exotic, maybe more than what I want in my risotto.

I still can't stand his "smell-a-vision" and "bam-bam" gesturesk, however.
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' She says, 'I am the glamorous type.' I said, 'So what?'

[David]

I agree Sarape, my impression of risotto is "simplicity" . And regarding Emeril---I just don't get what the buzz is about. Tosses in an extra clove of garlic and shouts "Bam" to great sighs and applause. I ate in one of his New Orleans restaurants a few years back and was seriously underwhelmed.
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Vivant Linguae Mortuae!!