Risotto

We made some risotto yesterday evening using plain long grain rice, some dried shitake mushrooms from NYC Chinatown, shallots, garlic, butter and white wine.

We used some of the chicken broth from my first rooster I butchered the day after Christmas with my sister helping. The homemade broth made the risotto much smoother and mellower than the commercial canned or packaged broths.

For Risotto:

Chop some shallots, a few garlic cloves, and some minced parsley and saute in some olive oil mixed with canola oil. You saute the mixture until its blended and the onions and garlic are lightly browned and wilted.

Next add the dry rice and stir that around with the saute in the oil until the rice is golden and smelling very good. Add some salt and pepper and maybe some thyme and other Italian seasonings to your liking. I add some dried, mushrooms that I've soaked in water and cooked lightly for a few minutes and left to sit for awhile. I squeeze the water from them and chop the tops of them into thin slices and saute these into the browned rice. Then you add a big splash of white wine and stir. After the wine is all rendered off, then start adding splashes of chicken broth a little at a time and just stir all this till the broth is absorbed by the rice. Just keep doing this with about 4 cups of broth to maybe about 1 1/2 cups long grain rice. The idea is that the stirring of the broth into the rice makes he rice creamy. When the rice is cooked to where its nice and soft and tastes real good, then just add about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of Parmesan cheese and stir and stir until blended.

You can also pan sear about a 1/2 tsp of saffron in a cast iron pan and toast it a little and then grind it in a mortar and add to the rice mix for extra flavor.

PS - I save the dried mushroom stems and chop them up in a blender and use them for soups later.