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| Goat Cheese Risotto |
| Tuesday, October 09, 2007 |
 So this weekend's foray into new recipes served up some outstanding dishes. In my effort to find a recipe for risotto with goat cheese, all I kept coming up with were risottos with little wimpy slices of goat cheese on top. Lame. I wanted to melt the cheese into the risotto, so I gave it a go with my basic risotto recipe, with a few minor changes. This received rave reviews (from my neighbors) and I really enjoyed it--the slight tangy flavor of the goat cheese elevated this basic risotto to loveliness. Oh, I got the goat cheese from Beltane Farm at the Cityseed Farmers Market.
Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups chopped onions
2 cloves garlic, chopped (or minced)
1 cup of arborio rice
A little olive oil
4 cups of heated chicken stock
1 package of chevre (the soft stuff) goat cheese (probably 4-6 ounces)
Fresh grated Parmesan cheese
Salt
Pepper
Procedure
1. Melt the butter in a medium pot. Drop in the onions and cook slow and low, as if you were making French onion soup. This normally takes about 30 minutes, with a little stirring here and there. You want the onions to go golden and soft slowly. There will be bits that caramelize. That's okay.
2. Raise the heat a little and throw in the garlic. Let that cook a minute or two, then add the rice. Pour a little olive oil on the rice and stir, until it gets shiny. Add salt and pepper to taste.
3. Add about two cups of chicken stock and stir. Lower the heat. Pay attention to it! I'm not of the "stir risotto constantly" school of thought, but you do need to stir it fairly often.
4. When the liquid comes to the "shoulders" of the rice (an expression I heard Mario Batali use on Molto Mario), add another cup of stock. Repeat. If the risotto is still not tender after you've used up your stock, you can always add water. I find that overdoing the stock overdoes the flavor of the stock in your risotto.
5. Once the risotto is creamy and cooked to taste, cut up the goat cheese and stir the risotto until it melts. Add a few tablespoons of fresh grated Parmesan cheese. Don't put in too much Parmesan, because the real star is the goat cheese. Now taste and add a little salt and pepper accordingly. Eat warm and gooey.
This serves about four people. Also, feel free to cook up cut up bits of sausage, pancetta, prosciutto, bacon or ham in Step 2, when you crank up the heat and add the garlic. That's one of my favorite ways to eat risotto, with a little meat. On the other end, you can use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock and make a completely vegetarian meal. |
posted by Rose @ 6:56 AM  |
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| 2 Comments: |
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This was phenomenal. I did add some bacon and it was incredibly savory and delish. Thanks!
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Wow! It's the first time I've made risotto ... and I will definitely again! I added mushrooms and artichoke hearts. I also used butternut squash seed olive oil. Incredible!
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This was phenomenal. I did add some bacon and it was incredibly savory and delish. Thanks!