Construction and Cabin Fever

So I have been going a little stir crazy here in the retirement complex that is our gated Rancho Mirage community.

Distractions include: my dad cutting out power, internet, phone service, etc with his renovations, and the mounting anxiety of my archive trip next week.

However, my lovely lovely uncle has been around, and I have had the opportunity to meet his equally charming boyfriend. I love my uncle, and for the first time actually, I really love his boyfriend - we get along like peas in a shared pod. They came over for dinner two nights ago for which I prepared the side dish-cum-main attraction: lemon risotto.

I have made lemon risotto before, Jamie Oliver's asparagus and lemon recipe, and it didn't turn out how I would have liked; new to the world of risotto, I may have simply been taken aback by the refreshing lemon paired with the creamy sharp parmesan, but either way, I had been sticking to more traditional risottos. But it is far to warm down here for a creamy comfort dish, so I started trolling blogs, rather than google, for a new lemon risotto recipe. And I found the most amazing one on Cate's World Kitchen [though she adapted it originally from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison]. In true food-blog turn, I also made some adjustments; here is what I cooked up:

5 green onions, chopped

olive oil

salt and pepper

1.5 tetra packs of low sodium chicken broth

2 shallots, diced

1 1/2 cups (approx) arborio rice

1.5 cup white wine

1/2 cup chopped parsley

8 basil leaves

zest of one lemon

2-4 tablespoons of lemon juice (to taste)

1/3 cup grated Parmesan

 

Slice the scallions thinly. Cook them in olive oil until soft, about 3 or 4 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

Put the stock in a saucepan and bring to a simmer.  Keep it simmering as you use it.

Chiffonade (which I just learned means to stack the leaves, roll and then slice thinly) the basil leaves and set aside.

Heat some more oil in a saucepan (I would recommend grapeseed or walnut oil, however - you will be sauteing shallots, and olive oil loses its nutrients at high temperature, while grapeseed and walnut oils do not).  Add the shallot and cook over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add the rice, stir to coat the grains, and cook for 1 minute.

Add the wine and simmer until it’s absorbed.

Add the stock 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly, and waiting until the liquid is absorbed before the next addition.

When the rice is almost finished cooking, add salt and pepper to taste, stir in the scallions and lemon zest, and cook for one more minute.

Turn off heat, stir in the basil, parsley, lemon juice, and parmesan before serving - drizzle with olive oil and add parmesan as desired.

 

It was so complex and delicious - served with sliced steak and peas, it was so perfect.

Tonight? Chicken burgers with roasted grape tomato crostini and pineapple-cilantro quinoa, courtesy of keep it skinny. Culinary distractions abound as well. Keep posted for my return to the Black-Choptiany Bi-weekly, Bi-coastal culinary throwdown - Mother's Day style - tomorrow evening.