Roasted Red Pepper Risotto
- 2 oz Unsalted Butter
- 2 TB Olive Oil
- 1 Yellow Onion
- 1 Garlic Clove, grated
- 1 ½ Cups Arborio Rice
- 1 ½ Cups Dry White Wine
- 5 Cups Veg Stock
- 4 – 6 oz Shredded Parmesan Reggiano
- Sea Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper
- 2 TB Butter OR Mascarpone Cheese
- 2 Roasted Red Peppers, julienned
- 1 Lemon, zested
Step One
Have veg stock at a simmer and ready at stove side.
Step Two
In large sauté pan, combine butter, oil and onion. Cook over medium low heat for about 10 minutes, until translucent and softened but not browned. Add garlic and stir for 1 minute. Add rice and stir, continuing to cook until well coated with fat and slightly golden, about 5 minutes.
Step Three
Once rice is toasted, add wine slowly, stirring with a wooden spoon. Increase heat to medium. When wine is absorbed, start adding warm stock, ½ Cup at a time, stirring often, and adding more stock when previous batch is almost absorbed. Continue adding stock as rice absorbs liquid. Use all 5 cups of stock; the rice will take about 20 minutes before it is completely cooked.
Step Four
Add in Parmesan and stir. Salt and pepper to taste. Right before serving, remove from heat, stir in peppers, butter or mascarpone and zest.
No. 2 : Kitchen Scoop
To make the risotto creamy, you add the liquid a little at a time while stirring constantly in order to release the rice’s starch. You want the grains of rice to be firm – not mushy or chalky. This whole process should take about 20 minutes – the risotto will be a little chewy (to your liking) and have a creamy texture.
No. 3 : Clever Idea
Did you know there are OVER 450 different kinds of cheese produced in Italy? Wow. The two cheeses used in the risotto this week are both cow’s milk cheese, made in two different parts of Italy using two completely different techniques.
No. 4 : Wine FIND of the Week
Maso Canali Pinot Grigio
Trentino-Alto Adige
About $15
This easy drinking, well made and very food friendly wine is a surprise for those of us who don’t usually enjoy pinot grigio. Instead of a thin mouthfeel you often encounter in inexpensive pinot, this wine has a more weight, coming from about 10% of Chardonnay that has been added. This one is from Northern Italy, the home of the Italian Pinot Grigio grape. I like to think about this pairing as a squeeze of lemon on top of the creamy risotto.