Vegetable Risotto

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5 Sundried tomato
2 c. Green onion, chopped
1 tsp Garlic, minced
2 White mushrooms, chopped small
1 c. Asparagus, chopped to about 1" in length
2 c. Arborio rice
2 c. Water
4 c. Chicken or Vegetable broth
1/2 c. Dry white wine
Olive oil
Romano cheese, grated

Combine the water and the chicken broth, bring to a boil. Then reduce the heat and keep the broth at a low simmer.

Chop the sundried tomatoes. Set aside.


In a large saucepan, soften the green onion, mushrooms, asparagus and garlic in a little bit of olive oil.

Add the rice, stirring until the rice is coated with oil, add more oil if necessary.

Stir in the tomatoes and cook for about 1 min.

Add the wine and stir until the wine evaporates.


Add 1/2 cup of simmering broth and cook the risotto over medium heat. Stir constantly until the liquid is absorbed.

Continue to add the broth, 1/2 cup at a time and stirring constantly. Always allow the broth to be absorbed before adding more broth. It will take approximately 20-30 min to use up all the broth.


When the last 1/2 cup of broth is almost absorbed, remove the risotto from heat. Cover and cook for an additional 10-15 min.

Before serving, sprinkle the Roman cheese and season with salt and pepper.



My comments:

To be perfectly honest, I have never had risotto in my life. I don't know what it's supposed to taste like or if I will even like it. But I was inspired by Chef Ramsay during one episode of Hell's Kitchen where he was constantly yelling (*gasp* Chef Ramsay yells?! Nooo... *sarcastic smirk*) about the poor quality risotto. So with the idea of making my own risotto in mind, I started surfing the net for recipes. There were a lot of yummy recipes with a lot of good tips. Finally, I decided to amalgamate various recipes and created my own version of vegetable risotto. For a beginner, I thought the risotto turned out pretty tastey...but I can't say whether I would've passed Chef Ramsay's test because I really don't know what it's supposed to taste like.

This recipe is large enough to serve 4 people. I heard risotto is not good as a leftover but I guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow at lunch to see if that's true or not.

I used sundried tomatoes that were preserved in seasoned oil because it's what I have at home. But many recipes specifically asked for dehydrated tomatoes. I have never cooked with sundried tomatoes before, but I thought the oiled ones were pretty darn good.

Next time I make this, I will cook the asparagus separately and add them to the risotto in the end. Although the flavour of asparagus was nice this time, I thought the asparagus was overcooked and the dull green colour didn't look very appetizing. Also, I think I will try using some sweet onion instead of green onion next time to get a stronger onion flavour.

Comments

Kajal@aapplemint said…
well after looking at your risotto i can say only one thing... ramsay would've been proud of it !
13/9/07 12:18 PM
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