risotto
do not wash the rice. whereas in many other preparations where you don't want the starch that's on the rice, the starch in risotto is integral to the consistency that makes it feel like risotto.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups arborio rice 5 cups cooking liquid (ideally 4.5 cups stock + .5 cups white wine, but sub in water where needed) 3/4 pound fresh mushrooms, cleaned and sliced 1/2 cups frozen peas 1 bunch swiss chard, stems removed and cut into strips 1 medium onion, diced some sage and thyme a block of parmesan or pecorino cheese
Instruction
heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a pan. add the chopped onion and saute until soft but not browned. add in the arborio rice and saute for 2 minutes. keep the rice moving to avoid burning.
put in half a cup of white wine (stock if you don't have it) and stir until the pan looks dry (probably a minute or two). add in about 2 cups of stock, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer. you don't have to stir constantly but you do have to drag a spoon across the bottom every couple minutes to make sure it's not sticking.
from here you'll cook the rice until it just barely has any toothiness when you bite into it while keeping liquid in the pot. this should take about 17 minutes. any time the pan looks dry add about a half a cup of stock or water at a time. take it off the heat when it's al dente.
while your rice is going, prepare any vegetables to mix in. a nice combination is mushrooms and peas. fry mushrooms in a skillet with some olive oil, salt, and pepper on medium high; let them release their water and then let the water evaporate, and let them get some color, probably about 8 minutes. add in the swiss chard and mix to combine cook for 4 minutes. when everything is about 1 minute from being done add chopped sage and thyme leaves. should take about 10 minutes total. for frozen peas, take them out of the freezer at the beginning of cooking. add them in to the risotto when you think it has maybe 1 minute left.
once the rice is almost done and you've added the peas, remove from heat and add in the mushrooms and grate about 1/2 cup parmesan or pecorino cheese directly into the pan. add a little bit more stock or water to the pot to adjust the consistency. use slightly more than you think you need, by the time you plate it and eat it it will begin to thin out.
serve with the parm block and grater.