How to Make Risotto

Here’s a risotto recipe that will even satisfy real live Italians with its authenticity. The sun-dried tomatoes add an amazing flavor that permeates the entire dish.
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Sun-Dried Tomato Risotto
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
5 cups of vegetable, meat or seafood stock
One medium onion, chopped
4-5 Tablespoons olive oil
1 cup rice (see note 1, below)
3/4 cup white wine (please do not use "cooking wine")
Sun-dried tomatoes, chopped coarsely (see note 2)
Parmesan cheese, grated (see note 3)
Frozen peas (optional-see note 4)

Directions:
1) Bring stock to a boil, then remove from heat.
2) In a separate non-stick pan, heat the oil on medium heat. Add the onion and saute for about 3-4 minutes until translucent (do not brown the onion).
3) Add the rice and stir until all of the rice is coated with oil. Heat the rice for 3 minutes or so, continuing to stir until the rice starts to become an opaque white color.
4) Add the white wine and stir constantly until it is absorbed, about 1-2 minutes.
5) Then gradually add the stock into the rice, starting with one to two ladles-full, then adding another ladle of stock every couple of minutes. Stir regularly. NOTE: Do not add all the stock at once!! Instead, gradually add the stock, one ladle-full at a time. If you dump it all in at once the rice will turn out soggy.
6) When the rice absorbs the liquid, add another ladle of stock. The whole rice-cooking process will take anywhere from 18 to 25 minutes, depending on the thickness of the rice grains you are using.
7) At the 15 to 17 minute mark, you can add the sun-dried tomatoes. At about the 20 minute mark, start taste testing the rice for done-ness. It should be chewy and firm to the bite (al dente for you foodies out there), but definitely not crunchy. When you think the rice is done, add in the grated parmesan along with a final half ladle-full of stock and stir until the cheese is melted and well mixed into the rice. Serve immediately.

Easily serves four as a main dish, serves 6-7 as a side dish.
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A few final recipe notes:
1) Regarding the rice: If you really want to go authentic, be sure to use Arborio rice. Arborio rice is an extra thick, short-grain rice that has more starch content than regular rice. It gives the risotto a thicker, almost creamy texture. But I’ve found that regular rice works quite well too, and of course it's cheaper and easier to find in the grocery store.

2) Regarding the sun-dried tomatoes: If you are using dried sun-dried tomatoes, add them to the risotto with the first ladle-full of stock. If you are using sun-dried tomatoes in oil, add them just about five minutes before the rice is done. The softer, oil-based sun-dried tomatoes will disintegrate if you add them at the beginning, and the DRIED sun-dried tomatoes will be too tough if you add them at the end. This is an important distinction.

3) I’m not sure what it is about grating your own Parmesan cheese—maybe it’s the cooking with love, maybe it’s a little extra elbow grease that adds to the flavor, who knows? I encourage you to take the extra time and buy a block of Parmesan cheese and grate it by hand. It's just better than the pre-grated stuff.

4) You can use other ingredients in addition to (or in place of) the peas. Some suggestions: mushrooms, pieces of ham or pancetta, seafood (such as shrimp, scallops, etc), garlic, or any of a number of different kinds of veggies (best to use mild-tasting and firm vegetables like snap peas, green beans, etc). Most of these ingredients should be added when you're about halfway through cooking the rice, say at the 12 minute mark. If you want some extra help on ways to experiment here, take a look at my series on How to Modify a Recipe.

Enjoy!

Related Posts:
Mock Wild Rice: An Insanely Easy To Make Side Dish
What's the Most Heavily Used Tool in Our Kitchen? Our Rice Cooker.
How to Make Fried Rice
How to Make a Mole Sauce: Intense, Exotic and Surprisingly Easy to Make

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The Greatest Chocolate Mousse in the World

Today I'll share the only chocolate mousse recipe I've found that truly deserves to be called great.

I know we’re approaching Valentine’s day. So rather than doing something utterly unoriginal and buying your sweetheart a box of chocolates, why don’t you whip up a delicious batch of chocolate mousse instead? Best of all, this chocolate mousse recipe is easy--and inexpensive too.

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Chocolate Mousse
(courtesy of Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen* cookbook)
(makes 6 servings)

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
4 egg whites
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup powdered sugar

Melt the chocolate over low heat; use a candy thermometer and try and keep the temperature at about 110 degrees F.

Meanwhile, in a medium-size bowl of an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form (remember the lesson--but please forget the off color humor--on stiff peaks!).

In a separate bowl, beat the cream until frothy, about 1 minute. Add the sugar and continue beating until soft peaks form; do not overbeat. Gently fold the cream mixture into the egg whites, then add the cooled chocolate (heat to 110 degrees if it has cooled below that temperature), and quickly fold it in until well blended. Spoon into a serving bowl, into individual wine glasses, or into individual ramekins. Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving.

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Wow, what can I say? A simple, easy and inexpensive recipe with just four ingredients. And as a chocolate epicure, I can say confidently that I have never had a better chocolate mousse than this basic recipe.

Next time, I’ll talk about the cookbook that this came from* and why it’s one of the best cookbooks we’ve ever owned.

* Full Disclosure: if you purchase this book using any of the links provided, I get paid an extremely small affiliate fee. :)

Cooking With Love: Farfalle with Mushrooms and Gorgonzola Cheese

This recipe is simple, quick and consists of easy-to-find ingredients, yet it's still original and just a little bit unusual. The gorgonzola (or blue) cheese gives the dish a great taste sensation your family and guests will really enjoy. Be prepared to give out extra copies of the recipe.

Also, there's a bonus cooking lesson baked into today's post--see below.
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Farfalle with Mushrooms and Gorgonzola Cheese

Ingredients:
1/4 cup olive oil
3-4 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 lb fresh mushrooms, quartered
4 plum tomatoes, chopped coarsely
2 teaspoons dried basil
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 cup crumbled gorgonzola cheese or blue cheese. (Best to buy a ~4-5 ounce block of cheese and break it up or slice it up yourself.)

Directions:
1) Heat olive oil in a non-stick skillet. Add garlic, saute 1 minute at medium high heat. Add mushrooms, saute another 4-5 minutes. Add tomatoes, oregano and basil. Simmer until sauce thickens slightly, about 5-7 minutes and then let stand until pasta is ready.

2) Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling water until al dente. Drain but save back 1/2 half cup of leftover cooking water. Add to sauce in skillet. Toss pasta, sauce and crumbled cheese in a large pot. Serve hot.
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Two recipe notes:
1) This recipe is a textbook illustration of the importance of reading the recipe twice. Note that the recipe process steps are (arguably) out of order. In fact, the very first thing you'll want to do is start heating the pot of water for the pasta. Then you start the prep work--and the water should be boiling by the time the prep work is finished. Then, since the farfalle should take about 12 or so minutes to cook, you can start cooking the pasta as you saute the other ingredients. Done this way, the pasta and all the other ingredients should be ready at exactly the same time.

The thing is, you'd never know this is if you just started in on the recipe without having read it through first. If you simply executed this recipe's process steps one by one--without advanced knowledge of the steps to come--this recipe would take twice as long to make. It would still come out totaly fine, but you'd waste unnecessary time. Always read the recipe twice.

2) One final note: years ago, this dish taught me exactly what it means to cook with love. One night, I made this recipe while I was calm, focused and in an unusually good mood.

I did every step with extra care, and forgive me for bragging, but it came out absolutely kickass. And when my wife Laura sat down to dinner and started eating, she pounded the table (yes, she actually pounded the table with her fist) and said, “I can tell you made this with love.”

You could technically argue that I didn’t do anything different at all--I cooked this recipe the same way as always, at least in terms of the recipe's discrete steps. But what I did do differently, before I started cooking, was spend a few minutes mentally focusing on how great this meal was going to come out. This ultimately turned into rule #3 of my Seven Rules To Ensure Mistake-Free Cooking post.

Don't ever underestimate the importance of your state of mind when you cook!

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