Green Risotto

A friend of mine was coming over to dinner tonight with her daughters and I knew I wanted to make a risotto -- I like to do the one-dish meal when we're having the dinner-playdate.  I wanted to make something different than my normal repertoire of risottos, so I was poking around the internet for some ideas when I came across a recipe for risotto with fava beans.   Given that it's the middle of March, I knew that it was probably too early to find favas.  I tried three places, including our farmers' market, and discovered I was correct:  I need to wait a couple more weeks.  Instead, I found some English peas and decided to use them instead.   Since I like the sweetness of fresh peas, I thought that it might be nice to use scallions in addition to yellow onion.  I also figured that a touch of lemon would work too, so when I pureed the peas, I used the meyer lemon olive oil that I love.  If you don't have access to lemon-infused oil, you can always use regular extra virgin olive oil and add freshly-squeezed lemon juice.  

Green Risotto

(4-6 servings)

1/2 lb fresh English peas

1/4 cup lemon-infused olive oil

4 tablespoons butter

1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped 

3-4 scallions, white and light green parts only

5 cups chicken broth

1 1/2 cups arborio rice

1/2 cup white wine

1/3 cup fresh grated Parmigiano cheese, plus more to taste

-- Add shelled peas to boiling salted water.  Blanch for 1 minute, then drain and submerge in ice water to stop cooking process (and keep peas bright green).

-- When cool, puree peas with olive oil and set aside.

-- In saucepan, bring broth to a simmer and keep hot.

-- In a separate large saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons of butter in medium heat.

-- Add onions and scallions and cook until soft, about 5 minutes.

-- Reduce heat to medium-low, and add rice.  Toast rice until opaque and it starts to release a nutty aroma, about 2 minutes, stirring the entire time.

-- Add wine and stir until liquid is mostly absorbed, and then add one ladle of broth.  

-- Continue to stir until broth is absorbed and add another ladle of broth. Stir frequently.  Repeat this process until rice is al dente and has a creamy consistency, about 2o minutes.   

-- Add pea puree to risotto, and stir until well-blended.   

-- Remove from heat, add remaining butter and Parmigiano cheese, and stir to incorporate. 

-- Serve immediately with more cheese to taste.  

The color of the pureed peas is so pretty -- a bright celery green color.  When you add it to the rice, it gives the entire dish a lovely light green hue.  I wish I had taken a photo of it, but since the meal was for guests, I didn't want to bring out the camera and start taking pictures of my meal.  Next time I make it, I'll take a picture.  Oh, and there will be a next time.  My 4-year-old (my toughest critic) loved it, and even had two helpings, consuming green veggies without even realizing it.  Another thing I could have done was to have reserved some of the peas before I pureed them, and then added the whole peas to the risotto when I added the puree.  But, knowing that I was going to be feeding four children under the age of 5, I figure that calling attention to the presence of vegetables would be a mistake.   In addition, I served the risotto with a simple arugula salad (which my 2-year old gobbled up).

I haven't given up on the fava beans.  Once they're in season, I am going to try this one again with the favas.  

Risotto Rules

Once again, I've lagged on keeping up with my blog. It's not because I haven't found any good recipes, but simply because I haven't found much time to sit down and blog about them. But, this week I made a risotto and received rave reviews from the entire family -- even my hard-to-please three-year old. Newly inspired, here I am blogging about it.

I can't believe it, but it seems that I haven't yet blogged about risotto. Risotto is one of my favorite dishes to make (and eat). It's versatile, easy, relatively quick (can be completed in less than an hour), and can be used as a one-dish meal. I love finding new recipes and experimenting with various ingredients.

Recently I came across a Giada De Laurentiis recipe for Dirty Risotto and modified it in these ways:
-- I didn't have any pancetta in the house, but had some bacon that I needed to use. So, I substituted about three strips of bacon for the pancetta.
-- Her recipe calls for one link of spicy Italian sausage. I chose to use the sweet Italian sausage instead since my girls and husband can't handle the hot sausage. Personally, I would love it to be spicy, spicy, spicy, but I had to keep it low-key for them. I also added a second link since I wanted it to be meatier.
-- Giada includes red bell pepper in the recipe, but I omitted it.
-- Instead of button mushrooms, I used the cremini mushrooms that I already had in the house
-- I had a Maui onion, so I used that. It's a sweet onion, and it worked really nicely with the bacon and the sausage.
-- Mario Batali adds butter to his risotto once it's done. I've taken to doing that as well. It just adds a little more creaminess.
-- I also always add more wine than risotto recipes call for. I probably used about double (1 1/2 cups).
-- I omitted the parsley as my daughter regards anything green in her food with suspicion.

You can check out the original recipe as Giada wrote it on the The Food Network website. Here is my version.

Courtney's Dirty Risotto
(makes 4-6 servings)
5 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
3 tablespoons butter
3 strips bacon, chopped
2 links sweet Italian sausage, casing removed
1 Maui onion (or other sweet onion), finely chopped
4 ounces cremini mushrooms, coarsely chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups Arborio or medium-grain white rice
1 1/2 cups dry white wine
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan, and more to taste

-- In a medium saucepan, bring the broth to a simmer. Cover the broth and keep warm over low heat.
-- In a large heavy saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the bacon and sausage and saute until golden brown, about 5 minutes.
-- Add the onion and mushrooms and saute until tender, scraping up the brown bits on the bottom of the pan, about 8 minutes.
-- Season with salt
-- Add the rice, and stir to coat, allowing it to "toast" slightly -- about 1 minute
-- Add the wine, and simmer until the wine has almost completely evaporated, about 1 minute.
-- Add a ladle of broth and stir until almost completely absorbed, about 2 minutes
-- Continue cooking the rice, adding the broth one ladle at a time, stirring constantly and allowing each addition of broth to absorb before adding the next, until the rice is tender but still firm to the bite and the mixture is creamy, about 25 minutes total.
-- Remove from heat, and mix in remaining butter. Stir in Parmesan.
-- Serve immediately with additional Parmesan to taste.

Try it out. Once you get the hang of risotto, I promise you'll be experimenting with all different variations of it.