Dinner Snapshot - Vegetable Risotto

Vegetable Risotto

adapted from Williams-Sonoma Weeknights

5 cups vegetable broth

1 1/2 cups dry white wine

1 tbs unsalted butter

3 tbs olive oil

1 small yellow onion, finely chopped

2 cups Arborio rice

1 lb zuchinni, cut into 1/2 chunks

2 cups broccoli, cut into bite-sized pieces

1/4 cup fresh mint, minced

1 cup Parmesan cheese

kosher salt and fresh ground pepper

1. Cook the Risotto

In a saucepan over medium heat, bring the broth and wine to a gentle simmer, then maintain the simmer over low heat. Meanwhile, in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter with 1 tbs of the oil. Add the onion and saute until softened, about five minutes. Add the rice and cook, stirring constantly, until all gains are opaque and well coated with the fat, about 1 minute. Add 2 cups of the broth mixture and cook, stirring frequently (about every minute) until the liquid is absorbed, 3-4 minutes.

2. Saute the Vegetables

While the rice is cooking, in a frying pan over medium heat, warm the remaining 2 tbs of oil. Add the broccoli and cook 2 minutes. Add the zucchini and saute just until softened, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat.

3. Finish the Risotto

Stir the rice occassionally, about every three minutes. When the rice is tender and creamy but the grains are still al dente at the center, after about 22 minutes, stir in the sauteed vegetables and the mind and cook for 1 minute to heat through. Stir in the cheese. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.

Notes:

1. When stirring, make sure you are scraping up the stuff at the bottom. If you don't get it up, it will stick and burn. The best time to do this is when you add broth.

2. The receipe says that it takes 30 minutes start to finish. That's bull. Between David chopping vegetables at the beginning and both of us stirring rice and sauteeing vegetables at the same time, it took about an hour. The only way that this can be done in 30 minutes is if you have a sous chef prepare all the ingredients before hand and have the sous chef focus on stiring while you do all the other steps of the recipe. Martha Stewart must have created this recipe!

3. Risotto is not hard to prepare, so don't back away in fear. Just follow my stirring recommendations.

4. Although lengthy and labor intensive, this was a great dinner. Good for a Sunday night.