Thursday Night Risotto

Thursday nights are interesting to me. For the last few years, Thursdays have been the night that I eat with my parents-- they live about ten miles away-- either at my house or theirs. Cooking on a Thursday night means that I'm usually doing something special, because when I cook for my parents, I tend to go all-out.

Now, my brother works late on Thursdays, so we're considering switching our family meals to Sundays so that we can all make it. But cooking on Thursdays still feels like it should be something special to me. Tonight, at around 7:00, I realised that I hadn't yet eaten dinner, and decided that I wanted to eat risotto, because it's easy and filling and I had everything I needed at the house. Because it's a Thursday, I also decided to put a little extra effort into it-- really, only a little-- this is pretty darn close to my usual risotto. So!

Thursday Night Risotto

3 tsp. olive oil
1/2 of a small yellow onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 tsp. oregano
1/4 tsp. fresh-ground black pepper (or to taste)
2 tbsp. dry sherry
1 c. arborio rice
~3 c. chicken broth
1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese

Optional, but tasty:
1/2 tsp. truffle oil
1/3 c. chanterelle mushrooms, sliced
(Don't be limited! This is a great thing to use to empty out your pantry-- see what looks interesting and works with chicken/rice/cheese)

A note on measurements: When I am cooking for myself, and it's a recipe I'm familiar with, I generally don't measure, um, anything. So when I say "~3 c. chicken broth," what I mean is that I defrosted two plastic baggies of homemade chicken broth that I had in the freezer, and I think it was around three cups. If that seems like too much or too little to you, by all means, change it!

In a a small/medium saucepan, sautee the onion, garlic, oregano, and pepper in the olive oil over medium heat until the onions are translucent. Add the rice, stirring constantly. When the rice grains are mostly translucent, with a dot of white in the center, add the sherry. Stir until the sherry has been absorbed by the rice.

Next, add the chicken broth about a cup at a time, stirring in between additions until all the broth has been absorbed by the rice-- if you add all the broth at once, it won't work nearly as well, and if you don't wait until the broth has been absorbed, you will end up with a mushy, gooey mess. If you're adding the mushrooms and truffle oil, add them after the second cup of chicken broth.

Once the rice is cooked to your liking, turn off the heat. If you're using a gas stove, you can leave the pan on the burner; if you're using an electric stove, move the pan off the heat. Sprinkle the parmesan cheese over the top of the risotto, and then fold it in slowly, until the cheese is melted in. Adjust saltiness until it's to your liking-- if you're using commercial chicken broth, it's likely not to need salt, as the parmesan is also quite salty.

This recipe will serve two people who are decently hungry, or more people as a side dish. Enjoy!

(Also, second attempt at goat cheese is turning out weird. More on that later.)