Risotto

A creamy, cheesy rice dish you can serve as a main OR side dish.

Course Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine Italian

Keyword risotto

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 15

Total Time 20

Servings

Calories 471kcal

Author Emma Chapman

Ingredients

⅔ cup arborio rice
⅔ cup white wine
1½ cups chicken stock
1 tablespoon butter
1 shallot
2 cloves garlic
salt and pepper
¼ cup Parmesan cheese
¼ cup half and half

Instructions

Prepare by finely chopping the shallot, mincing the garlic, grating the cheese and have your stock and wine measured out and at hand.
In a large saucepan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Cook the onions until soft and fragrant, 2-3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Then stir in the rice and garlic. Cook another few minutes until the rice begins to look translucent.
Add half a cup of liquid (stock and wine) to the pan and stir as you allow it to simmer, cooking into the rice.
Once it’s mostly gone, add another half a cup. Continue this until you’ve used all the liquid.
Then remove a few rice grains from the pan and test them for doneness. You can cook it softer or firmer to the bite as you prefer.
Once the rice is cooked, stir in the cheese and cream. If you are using any chopped fresh herbs, you can toss them in now as well.
Once incorporated and everything is warm, taste and add any more salt and pepper you feel it needs. Serve warm.

Notes

Arborio rice is the rice to use for risotto. While other short-grain rice can work, they may take longer to cook with this method, may require more or less liquid to fully cook and won’t quite have the creamy, tiny dumpling-like effect that risotto is known for.
Some cooks will encourage you to warm the stock and wine as you cook, the idea that they will incorporate into the rice faster and thus take less cooking time. In my experience, this doesn’t make a huge difference and is a pain to accomplish, so I skip it.
I like to cook risotto in a large (wide) saucepan or large skillet as I feel this does actually help the rice cook faster as opposed to a pot.
Use a wine you like to drink! This recipe won’t use a whole bottle, not even close. So you can serve the remaining with dinner or buy a single serving (small carton) to cut back on waste.
If you find you don’t have chicken stock or broth, you could use water and a chicken bouillon cube.
Ways to easily change up the flavor – instead of chicken stock or broth you could use beef stock or seafood stock. Swap the white wine for a dry red wine. Use a different variety of onion besides shallot, like red onion or sweet white onion. Use different fresh herbs to match what you plan to serve this with, like fresh parsley or cilantro if you are serving with carne asada. You can swap the Parmesan cheese for almost any other cheese, like gruyere, sharp cheddar, havarti, or even a soft cheese like brie. I once had a risotto at a restaurant that had sour apple and brie in it—so good!
You can also add more spices or seasoning beyond just salt and pepper, like oregano, cayenne for heat, turmeric for flavor and color, saffron, etc.
Add some cooked vegetables or vegetable puree to the risotto for more color and flavor, like puree carrots or butternut squash, cooked mushrooms or greens like broccoli.
Finish the dish with a little squeeze of lemon juice or other citrus juice.
Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for at least 3 days. Rewarm in the microwave or on the stovetop.

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