Falling for Risotto

A bowl of creamy goodness

Recently, I had my first encounter with risotto. I immediately fell for it and couldn't help but wonder "where have you been all my life?"

It began this fall when my daughter and grandson were visiting for a few days. She had started the little guy on solid foods a few months earlier and had a book about Baby-Led Weaning written by Gill Rapley and Tracey Murkett. Baby-Led Weaning, as I understand it, is letting your child feed him or herself from about six months of age. My daughter was going to make risotto for us all using a recipe from the book. If you are interested, there is an informative and recipe-laden blog about it at babyledweaning.com.

Since my daughter was busy with baby, I offered to do the cooking. I prepped the ingredients and then got into the risotto technique. It is not something you can rush through. The hot chicken broth is added to the pan one ladle-full at a time. You don't add the next ladle of broth until the rice has absorbed all of the previous broth. It is an exercise of staying in the moment. You need to be at the stove and stirring until the rice is cooked and has only a little "bite" to it and the risotto reaches a lovely, creamy consistency.

Well, the risotto was delicious. And it wasn't long until I wanted to make it again. Here's my version of Chicken Risotto. Be careful - you might just fall for it, too.

MA's Chicken Risotto

Have risotto ingredients ready

4 chicken breasts, cut into 1” chunks

2 tbsp olive oil

1/3 cup butter, unsalted

2 cups onions, diced

1 red pepper, diced

1 green pepper, diced

1 ½ cups Arborio rice

6 ½ cups chicken stock

½ cup grated Parmesan

fresh ground pepper, to taste

In a large frying pan, heat the oil and butter over medium heat.

When the butter is melted, add the onions and fry until softened but not browned.

Before adding the rice and stock

Add the chicken and fry until it is sealed and white on the outside.

Meanwhile, put the stock on to heat in a separate pot.

Add the peppers to the chicken and fry gently until they start to soften, about 4 minutes.

Add the rice and stir to make sure that all of the grains have a light coating of the butter/oil mixture. Add more butter or oil if necessary.

Stock added to rice and ready for stirring

One ladle at a time, add the hot stock to the rice mixture. Stir constantly until the stock is absorbed into the rice. Continue adding stock until the rice is cooked. (You may not need to use all the stock.) It will be plump but will still have a little “bite” to it. The overall consistency of the risotto will be creamy. This step will take about 25 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the cheese and pepper.

Serve.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Printable Recipe for MA's Chicken Risotto