Risotto is warm, soft, and homey, just what I’ve been craving these days. To make it, all you need to know is 1 part rice, 5 or more part of liquid, and a generous amount of oil. But what inspired it this time, and perhaps you should take this as a warning to the wackiness that led to this goodness, are these—
3 uncorked bottles of white wine that’s been sitting in the fridge for the past couple or days.
I’ve been doing some impulsive buying I suppose. I had a bottle opened, and then forgot about it, and bought another one, and about the 3rd… I have no clue. But they’re they were. There were also some leeks and shiitake mushrooms in the fridge.
I got this idea from epicurious of cooking the vegetables separately from the rice so that they don’t melt in to the rice.
- Cover a pan with oil on medium heat, and add chopped leeks. Pour enough soymilk to cover the leeks and cook until it becomes creamy. Stir to keep the soymilk from sticking to the pan. Add salt and fresh ground pepper.
- As for the mushrooms, toss it on a baking sheet with some salt, pepper, olive oil, and chopped rosemary. Bake until it’s tender.
For the rice,
- On medium heat, add some chopped onions to a generous amount of Earth Balance and olive oil in a pan. Add a dash of salt.
- When the onions are transparent, add about a cup of arborio rice.
- Slowly start adding broth, a little at a time, and keep stirring. Taste to see if you need salt. Do this until the rice is cooked and creamy, not paste like.
When making risotto, the broth is really important, especially since I won’t be using any cheese. Knowing this but not thinking, I poured about an entire cup of Côtes du Rhône in the pot. Immediately, I regretted it, but after tasting it, I decided to go with it, and added a cube of veggie bullion and stirred it in to let it melt and blend.
Still I feared that the result might be too sour-wine-flavored for my dear lover/cohabitant and resident guinea pig. Luckily I had some dried porcini mushrooms. So I soaked some in water, and when they were ready, I added the mushroom water to the pot, and mixed in the porcini of course.
All together I added about a couple of cup of vegetable broth, a cup of the mushroom water, 2 cups of white wine, and even some moscato wine. I swear I wasn’t drunk.
When the rice was just about ready, just a bit of saffron was ready, and it really brought everything together. With the creamy leeks and mushrooms mixed in, it was perfect for us, perfect for today.
Here’s more proper recipe which this was roughly based on:
Risotto with Leeks, Shiitake Mushrooms, and Truffles from Bon Appétit
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Risotto is warm, soft, and homey, just what I’ve been craving these days. To make it, all you need to know is 1 part rice, 5 or more part of liquid, and a generous amount of oil. But what inspired it this time, and perhaps you should take this as a warning to the wackiness that led to this goodness, are these—
3 uncorked bottles of white wine that’s been sitting in the fridge for the past couple or days.
I’ve been doing some impulsive buying I suppose. I had a bottle opened, and then forgot about it, and bought another one, and about the 3rd… I have no clue. But they’re they were. There were also some leeks and shiitake mushrooms in the fridge.
I got this idea from epicurious of cooking the vegetables separately from the rice so that they don’t melt in to the rice.
- Cover a pan with oil on medium heat, and add chopped leeks. Pour enough soymilk to cover the leeks and cook until it becomes creamy. Stir to keep the soymilk from sticking to the pan. Add salt and fresh ground pepper.
- As for the mushrooms, toss it on a baking sheet with some salt, pepper, olive oil, and chopped rosemary. Bake until it’s tender.
For the rice,
- On medium heat, add some chopped onions to a generous amount of Earth Balance and olive oil in a pan. Add a dash of salt.
- When the onions are transparent, add about a cup of arborio rice.
- Slowly start adding broth, a little at a time, and keep stirring. Taste to see if you need salt. Do this until the rice is cooked and creamy, not paste like.
When making risotto, the broth is really important, especially since I won’t be using any cheese. Knowing this but not thinking, I poured about an entire cup of Côtes du Rhône in the pot. Immediately, I regretted it, but after tasting it, I decided to go with it, and added a cube of veggie bullion and stirred it in to let it melt and blend.
Still I feared that the result might be too sour-wine-flavored for my dear lover/cohabitant and resident guinea pig. Luckily I had some dried porcini mushrooms. So I soaked some in water, and when they were ready, I added the mushroom water to the pot, and mixed in the porcini of course.
All together I added about a couple of cup of vegetable broth, a cup of the mushroom water, 2 cups of white wine, and even some moscato wine. I swear I wasn’t drunk.
When the rice was just about ready, just a bit of saffron was ready, and it really brought everything together. With the creamy leeks and mushrooms mixed in, it was perfect for us, perfect for today.
Here’s more proper recipe which this was roughly based on:
Risotto with Leeks, Shiitake Mushrooms, and Truffles from Bon Appétit
