BASIC RISOTTO Italian Basic

Risotto is not as hard to make as some claim. It is one dish that requires the best ingredients and 100% attention. Once you start cooking it, count on spending 18 – 25 minutes constantly stirring and watching the dish. It is worth it! The next time you fork out just under $10 for risotto as an appetizer or $20 + for an entrée at a good Italian restaurant, you will see how much money you can save and exactly duplicate what you were served in the restaurant.

Here we go….for two as an entrée, these are the measurements:

3 ½ cups chicken stock

½ TBSP olive oil

1 cup Arborio rice

salt and pepper to taste

Bring the stock to a simmer in a small pot. Have a ½ cup ladle handy so you can add the stock to the rice as you are cooking. Heat a 2 quart heavy bottom pot over medium heat and toast the rice in the olive oil until it smells good…do not let it burn.

Add 1 ½ cups of the simmering stock to the rice and stir it constantly until the liquid is almost all absorbed. Keep adding the hot stock to the rice ½ cup at a time as the liquid gets absorbed. Stir it constantly. It will be cooked in between 18 – 25/30 minutes. Rice will be tender, moist and still a little firm in the middle. Add salt and pepper to taste.