We made this for dinner tonight - it was sooooo good . . . It is a bit labor
intensive, but the creaminess you get is well worth the extra effort-really!
Veggie Risotto
prep. time: 45 minutes
2 cups chicken-like or veggie stock
4 cups water
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion, diced smallish
1 small bulb fennel, diced smallish
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
3/4 cup dry white wine (optional)
8 oz mushrooms, coarsely chopped
2 tbs chopped fresh oregano
2 tbs chopped fresh sage
salt and pepper to taste
Combine stock and water in a pot and bring to a boil, then turn down to
barely simmering. While it is warming up, chop your veggies. Saute onion,
fennel and garlic using either wine or stock to keep them from sticking,
until softened in a large nonstick skillet over medium low heat. Add rice and
wine. Stir a bit to coat the rice. Once the mixture dries out add 1/2 cup
broth and stir. When the it starts to dry out again add another 1/2 cup of
broth and stir. Keep this pattern up - you don't have to stir constantly, but
you do need to do it about every 1-2 minutes. Keep adding broth as needed to
keep it from sticking. After about 10-15 minutes add the mushrooms and herbs.
Keep stirring and adding stock another 5-10 minutes checking the rice to see
if it is done. If you run out of stock before the rice is done, just add hot
water as needed. Mine usually takes 25-30 minutes.
Season w/ salt an pepper as desired. If you do the dairy thing, top with ff
parmesan cheese.