Settling into the kitchen now. I went to the weekday market (held on Thursdays) and bought all the things! (And for cheap, double score!) There were these radishes that were absolutely massive. They must be grown at 0 gravity because I've never seen radishes that big before.
Anyway. I also bought a bunch of mushrooms and thought I'd try my hand at making a mushroom risotto. I had accidentally bought a whole bag of glutinous rice last week and what better to use it up that a ridiculously time consuming lunch! (I don't have a job yet, so why not.)
Now, I may have mentioned in previous posts how much I loath making risotto. It takes forever and is probably the most boring thing to make. Except it tastes soooo gooood. I typically order risottos at restaurants so that I get to enjoy the rice-y cheese-y deliciousness without the boredum of stirring rice constantly, for 45 minutes. But it had been a while since I tried my hand at it so my silly brain thought 'Why not?'.
Mushroom Risotto a la Andrea
2 TBSP oil
1/4 white onion, finely chopped
1 tsp garlic, minced
18 mushrooms, sliced thick
2 tsp Worchestershire Sauce
Fresh ground pepper
2 cups glutinous rice
6 cups broth, simmering (I did chicken broth but beef or vegetable works too!)
1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
- Wash, slice and chop all the things.
- In a large skillet or frying pan, heat oil over med-high heat. Add onion and fry until clear. Add garlic and mushrooms. Stir well to coat all mushrooms in oil. Add Worcestershire sauce and fresh ground pepper (to your liking). Cook mushrooms, stirring frequently, until they are golden brown. (This can take up to a half hour.)
- While your mushroom mix is cooking, put on your broth to boil. I usually make mine out of OXO cubes. After the broth is boiling, turn it to a simmer. Keep it simmering.
- Add the rice to the mushroom mix. Stir and fry the rice with the mushrooms until the rice starts to brown.
- Ladle simmering broth into the frying pan. Fill enough of the pan with broth to just cover the rice. Stir the mixture until the rice absorbs all the water. This takes FOREVER. Seriously. From the first addition of broth to the risotto rice actually being cooked it will take about 45 minutes.
- Continue adding ladles of simmering broth to the rice, and stirring, until the rice absorbs all the broth. You'll notice a change in the way the rice stirs when it's almost done. Instead of individual grains of rice being stirred, the rice will start to stick together (this is why glutinous rice is used). Glutinous rice differs from regular long grain rice in the type of starch in contains. This particular starch gets sticky and forms a kind of gel when it cooks. Perfect for risottos.
- Check that your rice is done by testing the rice. If it's soft, it's good to go to the next step. If it's still crunchy At All, keep adding broth and stirring. Don't turn up the heat or you'll risk burning the rice.
- When your rice is done, take your pan off the heat and add your cheese. Stir touroughly, until the cheese is mixed in.
- You're ready to serve! Portion out your risotto and garnish with green onion. Nom! (Makes about 6 servings.)
From start to finish, making risotto take almost an hour and a half. But the deliciousness can't be rivalled. It's still one of my most favourite meals and with so many options and combinations of ingredients, you can keep making up new recipes using the same basic technique.
The market goes until October, I think, so I'll be going back next week to see what I can find. Maybe homemade broccoli-slaw with those gargantuan radishes? Mmm. Yes.
-Andrea
The Half-Assed Hobbyist