Recipe Challenge: Make a risotto from scratch
I had the house to myself at dinner time tonight, so I thought this would be the perfect time to attempt the 'dish of death' (according to Masterchef Australia), as no one else would suffer if I failed.
I love risotto. I love the idea of it, I love the variety of flavours that may be included, but I have never attempted to make it before. And so I turned to a chef I trust to have wonderful recipes: Jamie Oliver.
I mentioned Jamie Oliver in my post about making someone else's favourite recipe for my recipe challenge. One of the things I most appreciate about Jamie Oliver is his ability to break down to the most basic elements a dish which can be very intimidating. Risotto is one of those dishes.
For those of you who are not in Australia, or have not watched Masterchef, risotto has the reputation for being a dish that sends contestants home, as they often struggle to get it perfect under pressure. And considering that the contestants are extremely competent cooks, who have usually cooked risotto multiple times before, it has become a dish I both want and am afraid to attempt!
But Jamie Oliver made it sound so simple in 'Jamie Does Italy' to do a risotto bianco - the basis for every other type of risotto, apparently - that I felt this was something I could achieve, even if I could never get into the complication of deciding which ingredients work together to make a risotto of my own design. In the book he has at least three different ways you can extend the risotto bianco into different flavours by adding a few ingredients. And yet, when I looked up the website to check a few things, the recipe looked very different from what I had seen before - and much more complicated! So I dug up the copy I had, and got into it.
In the end, I found the recipe required a bit of patience, especially as it started to smell amazing close to the end. And even though I'd halved the recipe, intended for 4 people, I ended up eating three quarters of it (one and a half serves).
It does also mean that I have most of a bottle of white wine in the fridge waiting to be used.
So, two categories of my recipe challenge down! Which leaves 10 categories in the Common Challenge for me to complete, plus my whole list of unique challenges. I'm enjoying trying some new things!
I love risotto. I love the idea of it, I love the variety of flavours that may be included, but I have never attempted to make it before. And so I turned to a chef I trust to have wonderful recipes: Jamie Oliver.
I mentioned Jamie Oliver in my post about making someone else's favourite recipe for my recipe challenge. One of the things I most appreciate about Jamie Oliver is his ability to break down to the most basic elements a dish which can be very intimidating. Risotto is one of those dishes.
For those of you who are not in Australia, or have not watched Masterchef, risotto has the reputation for being a dish that sends contestants home, as they often struggle to get it perfect under pressure. And considering that the contestants are extremely competent cooks, who have usually cooked risotto multiple times before, it has become a dish I both want and am afraid to attempt!
But Jamie Oliver made it sound so simple in 'Jamie Does Italy' to do a risotto bianco - the basis for every other type of risotto, apparently - that I felt this was something I could achieve, even if I could never get into the complication of deciding which ingredients work together to make a risotto of my own design. In the book he has at least three different ways you can extend the risotto bianco into different flavours by adding a few ingredients. And yet, when I looked up the website to check a few things, the recipe looked very different from what I had seen before - and much more complicated! So I dug up the copy I had, and got into it.
In the end, I found the recipe required a bit of patience, especially as it started to smell amazing close to the end. And even though I'd halved the recipe, intended for 4 people, I ended up eating three quarters of it (one and a half serves).
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| My risotto bianco. Mmmmm! |
So, two categories of my recipe challenge down! Which leaves 10 categories in the Common Challenge for me to complete, plus my whole list of unique challenges. I'm enjoying trying some new things!
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