Yesterday may have been a snow day, but today, friends, was a wind day. Allow me a moment of weather-geekery: The Alberta clipper that is making its way across the country has finally arrived on our doorstep, and it has brought along single-digit windchills and high temperatures in the 20s. Now, for the hardy Midwestern and Rocky Mountain folks among us, this may seem like no big whoop, but for us here in the DC area? It’s a big whoop.
So I knew that we needed something warming and hearty tonight for dinner. But we just enjoyed some stew last night (and enjoyed it again for lunch today), so I was hoping to steer clear of another brothy concoction. Enter: Risotto! Hearty, wintry, healthy and festive, it’s a great meal to enjoy on any cold January night.
My mother-in-law (hi, D-Ma!) gave me a new cookbook for Christmas, a recent release from one of my favorite cookbook authors, Robin Robertson. (We are on our second copy of Vegan Planet, we’ve used it so much!) This new book, One-Dish Vegan, intrigued me from the get-go, and I couldn’t wait to dig right in and start cooking. So tonight I chose risotto with artichokes and mushrooms for our maiden voyage, and I was thrilled with the results.
I’ve always been a little intimidated by risotto. It seems like a lot of moving parts for a dish that looks like it ought to be simple to make. Those types of recipes make me nervous; with so many moving parts, it’s easy to skip a step or botch something, and your fellow diners will give you the evil eye, wondering how you could have possibly goofed up something that tastes so simple (in a good way). Maybe that’s just me?
But all this to say, I had never made an actual risotto before tonight. But with just LeeLee and me here at the house – and plenty of other quick-fix meals hanging around just in case – I figured what the heck. Let’s do this thing.
I won’t recite the recipe chapter-and-verse; I’ll just recommend that you pick up a copy of Ms. Robertson’s book and give it a try yourself. But I will say that this wasn’t nearly as difficult as I’d feared risottos could be. Now, there’s a great deal of stirring and attention involved; this isn’t a set-and-forget kind of dish. But the general rhythm becomes very clear very quickly. Pour in some hot broth, stir until absorbed. Pour broth, stir. Pour and stir. Pour and stir. And then, all of the sudden, out of nowhere, you have … risotto. Magical, wonderful, piping-hot risotto.
We served English peas on the side for some greenery, and they complemented the main course just beautifully. And speaking of the main course, we each went back for seconds. LeeLee (who is not even much of a risotto guy, to tell you the truth) even went back for a small third portion! Success.
And what’s even more successful is that we’ve got some risotto left over for lunch. It’ll have to get in line – we’ve still got some Moroccan chik’n stew to plow through, after all – but I’m looking forward to it already!
:)