I tried making risotto for the first time this weekend, after trying some tasty risotto from the ready-to-eat area of my local grocery store. I glanced quickly at a generic recipe for ideas of what to buy, and I went and bought some chicken, chicken broth, Arborio rice, and Crimini mushrooms. As it turns out, I was not prepared for how much chicken broth was required (like 6.5 cups, what the heck?!) so I had to use about 2 cups of water to round out the recipe.
The recipe looked easy enough, but I now know that risotto needs constant attention. I figured it would be like normal rice where you just dump all the liquid in and let it steam, but apparently you are supposed to put in a half cup of the stock mixture at a time, and this is pretty tedious (as you have to stir every so often to avoid having burnt rice at the bottom). I added a very small amount of smoked bacon to the recipe as well to compensate for the diluted stock mixture, and to give the risotto a slightly smokey flavor. I then topped it off with some grated mahon cheese.
Overall it was excellent, although the recipe ended up producing way more risotto than I could eat in one sitting. Risotto doesn’t seem to be great as a leftover, but it was very tasty when eaten immediately after cooking.
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Mmmm..I LOVE risotto!! But I’ve never even attempted to make it. I’ve heard it’s really difficult. Have you ever tried cooking paella? I’ve heard it’s a similar concept – constant stirring.