Risotto Primavera

Happy Monday, internet friends! How was your weekend?

Mine was pretty dang lovely, despite needing to sleep forEVER. All last week I was extra sleepy and lethargic, but this weekend was a little intense. Preston and I actually slept until about 10 am yesterday, which is beyond insane for us… But I guess we needed it?

Anyhow. I mentioned weeks ago that a friend of mine just moved back to town last month, but this was the first weekend we were both really free and got to see each other. Friday night she came over after work, I made this yummy risotto primavera, and we drank wine and watched TV. Or rather, I inflicted upon her the pilot episodes of a couple of my favorite TV shows that I insisted she must watch 😉 An old flashback with Pushing Daisies, and my newest favorite show, The Catch. Already counting down the days until that comes back for its second season…

So let’s talk risotto. It’s an awesome dish to make for guests. It’s absolutely NO extra work to make enough to feed 10 people as it is to feed 2, minus maybe needing a bit of extra arm strength for stirring purposes 😉 And who doesn’t like risotto? Warm and creamy rice?? YES. For sure. Plus, aside from maybe a little chopping, the cooking process consists of ladling broth into rice and stirring a lot. Something easily accomplished while sipping wine and visiting with company.

Convinced? The perfect dinner for guests?

I kept this super simple and inspired by one of my favorite spring veggie dishes, pasta primavera. Garlic, a couple herbs, and whatever spring veggies look the best.

I am obsessed with corn so it finds its way into a surprising number of dishes lately. But the fun one here are fresh peas! I only see them for such a short period of time (and can never remember when that is) so they’re such a treat to have. But you can always make this out of season with frozen peas. Super simple 🙂

Let’s get cooking!

risotto primavera

2016-07-11 13:48:38

Serves 4

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Ingredients

1. 6 C vegetable broth
2. 2 T butter
3. 1 T olive oil
4. 1 small yellow onion or 2 shallots, finely diced
5. 1 C arborio rice
6. 1/2 C white wine
7. 4 cloves garlic
8. 2 carrots, peeled and diced
9. 3/4 C fresh spring peas
10. 1 ear corn, grilled and kernels cut off
11. 1 T fresh thyme, chopped

Instructions

1. Bring veggie broth to a simmer in a large saucepan. In a separate very large high-sided skillet or saucepan, melt the butter and oil. Add the onion or shallots and cook about 3-5 minutes, until turning translucent.
2. Add the rice and stir to coat the rice in the melted butter and oil. Cook 2 minutes. Add the white wine, stir the rice very well and then let sit to evaporate.
3. Most of the risotto is cooked by slowly ladling a spoonful of broth into the rice at a time. You can slowly stir the risotto the whole time you cook, or just give it a good aggressive stir right before and after every ladle of broth.
4. The best way to tell when the rice is done is just to give it a taste and make sure that it has softened. When it’s nearly soft but has just a little bite left, toss the carrots into the broth and allow them to cook for 3 minutes. Then add the peas and cook 2 more minutes. Toss all the peas and carrots into the risotto, add the corn (if it’s grilled then you don’t need to add it to the broth to cook first), and stir to combine.
5. Add the fresh thyme, salt and pepper to taste, and you’re done!

Flora Foodie https://florafoodie.com/