I love risotto, and it's really easy to make, despite years of failed attempts and my mother's reassurance of "risotto is supposed to be crunchy", no, it's really not. It just takes a little patience and for log's sake, don't follow the times on a recipe. It's really just a process of adding broth and tasting, adding and tasting, repeatedly. So, you might be full by the time it's done but it does provide some excellent leftovers.
Supposedly 1 cup of Arborio rice serves four people. I guess four normal people might eat that much but with two normal adults and two kids, you'll get about one adult serving of leftovers. So yeah, just go with a cup to serve four people. You'll also need 4 cups of broth. I used some veggie stock I'd made back when I did a
lobster pot pie, but I normally use chicken broth. The veggie stock is great if you have vegetarians to feed, and still tastes good. You'll also need one onion, 1/4 cup of heavy cream (I don't mess around), some Parmesan cheese (I use the Kraft shakey kind and do mess around), and whatever ingredients you want to add to the risotto. This time I used some leftover Johnsonville cheesy sausage, asparagus and baby bella mushrooms. You can use shrimp, chicken, frozen mixed veggies, whatever floats your boat.
Plan on using about three burners on your stove. This is probably not a great dish to make on a hot day. Heat your broth to almost boiling and turn the burner on low to keep hot. Also melt some butter or olive oil in a pan and fry up your onion (after you dice it, of course). I've used shallots before but an onion is just fine.
I also used a third burner to fry up my veggies and sausage to add in after the rice is done. You don't want to cook these with the onions because you want the onions to mix with the rice and broth and so during the process of softening the rice, you'll soften up the veggies too much and that just won't do.
Now is the time to exert some extreme patience. Toss the Arborio rice in with the onions and shake them around to get the rice a bit toasted and oily. I don't know why that's important and haven't tried skipping this step, but maybe you could. But it's only for a few seconds, so suck it up and just do it. Next you're going to want to add 1/4 - 1/3 of the hot broth (doesn't that sound dirty?) and turn the heat down on the rice to a simmer. Then you wait. And wait. Once the rice has absorbed all of the broth, throw in 1/4 - 1/3 of the hot broth again. And wait. And wait. Rinse. Repeat. Okay, don't rinse, but do repeat. Repeat and wait and repeat and wait as the rice absorbs the broth until you can't feel any more firmness in a grain of rice and it's soft and chewy, almost like a porridge. Then you're ready for the final steps.
Now add the heavy cream, Parmesan and veggies and give the risotto (you can call it that now) a good stir. Serve into individual bowls with some crusty bread and enjoy every calorie.
Isn't it lovely?
