I came to know risotto mostly through Hell’s Kitchen. Watching aspiring chefs send up improperly cooked arborio rice to the shouts of an eternally pissed Gordon Ramsay was forever entertaining. It always seemed to be underdone, overdone or seasoned improperly. The process appeared to be scarily daunting and I had never considered making risotto until I watch an episode of Alton Brown’s Good Eats about it. As Alton carefully walked me through the process of cooking while explaining the science behind why you have to toast arborio rice before adding the liquid, I found myself thinking risotto wasn’t so hard after all. It was both interesting and comforting. I threw caution to the wind since and gave it a go. Simple cheese risottos gave way to many other iterations that filled my stomach and delighted my palette. It quickly became one of my go to comfort foods.
The only draw back to risotto, is that it is REALLY easy to make it very unhealthy. Most recipes call for copious amounts of broth, wine, cream, butter, and cheese. When you present all of that in large American portion sizes, it’s a recipe for disaster (hurrr hurr). But, what’s surprising, is that you can just as easily make it with half those ingredients and still have a wonderfully flavorful, creamy risotto with far less guilt. The starchy rice combined with just a splash of milk is enough to create that creaminess you want while not hardening your arteries. It may not be as rich as its decadent cousins but it can be just as flavorful thanks to the additions of lots of veggies and aromatics.
For this risotto, I’m going with the simple classics: spinach and mushrooms. When shopping, look for brown cap mushrooms as they have a stronger flavor and a firmer body than the button whites. A nice cremini or even a diced up portobello are great choices. In addition to that, I have a bag of spinach, some vegetable stock cubes (I tend to water my stock cubes down more than recommended to cut back on sodium), onion, garlic, butter, and a bit of lemon juice to brighten everything up. Here’s what you need:
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 onion, diced
- 1-2 vegetable bullion cubes (feel free to use 5-6 cups liquid stock; cubes are easier to find here in Denmark)
- 5-6 cups hot water
- Two teaspoons butter, divided
- Two teaspoons olive oil, divided
- 1 cup arborio rice
- 3-4 cremini mushrooms, caps and stems sliced
- 2 cups (or more!) fresh spinach
- 4-5 tablespoons of low fat milk
- Squeeze of lemon
Dice the onion and mince the garlic. While your bullion cube dissolves in water, separate your mushrooms and slice up all the pieces including the stems. Portion out your spinach so it’s at the ready. Much like stir fry, once the risotto is 80% done it you have to work quickly so it’s best to have everything ready.
Heat about a tablespoon of olive oil and a a teaspoon of butter (just enough to impart flavor) and a teaspoon of olive oil (which keeps the butter from burning) in a medium stock pot. Sweat the onions until transparent and then add in the garlic. Cook until the garlic is fragrant.
Toss in one cup of arborio rice and stir as it toasts in the pan for a few minutes.
Once the rice has toasted, add in 1/3 of your vegetable bullion until it’s over the top of the rice. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer allowing the liquid to almost boil away. We’ll do this three times in total.
When your pot looks like the picture below, add more stock until the rice is covered and give the rice a stir to ensure none is stuck to the bottom. Let it again boil down until it is almost gone.
While you let your broth boil down the second time, get your mushrooms ready. Heat a teaspoon of butter in a medium pan and a teaspoon of olive oil. When the butter/oil is hot, add in the brown mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper. Remember to go easy on the salt because you already have quite a bit of salt in the bullion and you can always add more salt in the final seasoning.
If you have any aromatics around, feel free to add them in with the mushrooms. I had this lovely thyme in my fridge so I threw some tender leaves in. Remove the mushrooms from the heat and set aside.
Back to the rice; by now your rice should have boiled down to almost nothing again. You will now add broth for the third and final time. This time you DO NOT let it boil all the way down. You want to boil it down until it’s a saucey (that’s the rice’s starch at work!). At that point, keeping it on the heat, add in a healthy splash of milk (maybe 4-5 tbsp) and stir. It should start to look really creamy. Add in your mushrooms and stir.
Add in LOTS of spinach and stir into the risotto until wilted
If you would like a tiny bit of extra protein, add in a little chopped prosciutto or, in my case, Jambon Iberico. Add in a squeeze of lemon juice at the very end for funsies. Remove from heat and add salt and pepper to taste.
Plate and enjoy!
Remember that risotto is not meant to be a full main course entree. It is either a first course or a side. If you make this, be sure to keep your portion size on the smaller side and supplement either with a salad or perhaps some wheat crackers (like WASA) topped with some healthy (dare I say organic) peanut butter. Risotto is a 4 to 1 ratio so 1/4 of dry risotto will make 1 cup of cooked. I made one cup of risotto and got 3 full sized lunch portions out of it. Not a bad deal!
A final word about the use of butter in this recipe. While I do cut out high fat add-ins like cream and cheese, I don’t leave out butter. I will never leave out butter for fear of Julia Child coming back from the dead to haunt me. Instead, I will often cut butter with heart healthy olive oil. I use just enough butter to get the flavor but then let olive oil do the rest of the work. Good eating is all about moderation and I am a huge proponent of eating natural foods which includes butter. Even though margarines have greatly improved over the years, I still prefer to use real, full fat butter in all my recipes. #sorrynotsorry
Faking It in Denmark 