risotto

As seen earlier Weinzweig's 8th rule of risotto is to keep it simple. Ha ha ha. Rules. But I'm telling you, the tendency toward complexity is hard to resist. The thing is, you have all these great ingredients that you know would be excellent and would work well together and on top of that you have other ingredients with expirations that must be used sooner or later, and still other ingredients that could round out the protein/carb/fat profile of the dish. It's a problem. This is about as simple as I can go when the dish counts for the complete meal, possibly the only one I'll have this day. If it were a side-dish for a gathering, say, one that fills out a plate or one included to display my mad breezy skillz then that would be a different matter.

The point about using arborio rice is taken. It behaves differently than the short-grained white rice I grew up using. The kind that most closely resembles the white rice grown in Japan but never exported. It's like a religious thing with them over there. It's simply not done. But the kind grown in California and in the Southern states comes very close, if not quite as starchy. The Japanese rice was rinsed seven times ritualistically and it still produced cloudy water and still steams seriously sticky. It's possible to eat it with chopsticks. The American white rice rinses clear with three short rinses if that. Now I just dump it in a strainer and jostle it under running water for a few seconds. To make it cook up not sticky then fry the granules first with a little oil for a few minutes. After steaming they'll be separate and fluffy.

For home use you can probably get away with ordinary rice but it will not be the same thing, and if you pulled that on Chopped I guarantee you would be axed, and the Italian guy would sniff, "This isn't even risotto."  Beware of rice marketed for risotto. Just don't buy it.  the marketers are most likely preying upon ignorance. I can see it -- the most inexpensive short-grained rice available sold with a flavor packet that contains dehydrated onions, garlic powder, cheap-ass salts, and various unidentified flavor, texturizing, and stabilizing chemicals.

For this arborio rice I first heated six measured cups of chicken broth. During cooking the rice took up five cups easily by the time it was finished to the desired firmness. It's a bit tricky deciding when to stop adding stock by the ladle full. You do not want it all to go to mush. That would be bad. I kept testing individual grains  until they arrived at the right bite. But then as the rice cooled it took up even more stock. I resumed adding stock after cooking by ladle increments of 1/4 cup. The cheese thickened the sauce even further. Finally, one cup of arborio rice absorbed the full six cups of chicken broth with enough liquid remaining in the rice to rate a decently creamy sauce. It could have possibly used even more for a slightly soupier sauce.

My new package of basil went wet and dark and ugly. Man, that pisses me off. So I used mint instead. I considered sage. Both would be just fine. But it's not what I intended.

Chopped scallion and grated Grana Padano added at the end after cooking and served over chopped pieces of leftover chicken thighs which are still supremely delicious two days later and cold.  God, I love those things.  Two nice size Crimini mushrooms quickly sautéed in olive oil for a tiny pile on top. The whole thing drizzled liberally with truffle oil. Dazzled with torn mint and a small amount of grated Grana Padano along with  a small amount of chopped scallion held in reserve. Taaaa daaaaa. Art.