I am really loving risottos right now, with the change in weather turning cooler. Even if you enjoy meat, or chicken or seafood, the basics are the basics - so add what you want.
Risotto Tuesdays have become a "thing" in our house. It is a great antedote to the proverbial question "what's for dinner".
Mushroom risotto was on the menu last week, but yesterday I had some beautiful red peppers and some red onions. Harrison wanted to help (mostly to make 'tofu calamari', but I talked him into helping with both) which was great.
I always find it cute to see newbies holding knives. Harrison has been able to hold a knife - and I mean a "that's a nIIIIIIfe" knife (insert Australian accent here) - since he was young. I want him to respect the sharpness and the safety issues for sure, but I also trust him and want him to be comfortable around cooking utensils. (A person I know actually locks up their cheese grater for fear that one of their little people in the house will scrape themselves. Really? When I was a kid, I didn't go around accidentally grating my fingers, but I digress...)
So he slowly took apart a red pepper, discarding the stem and seeds after slicing the whole thing in half. Then he took down the onion, taking off the top and bottom, peeling off the outer layer and cubing both into manageable chunks (the size of toonies). We added some olive oil to a big soup pot instead of a shallower pan.
When I cook with my son, I do like to build in some splatter protection when working with hot oil, hence the deeper pan.
We sauteed both till soft after salting them slightly, and then blended the mushy mixture in the magic bullet blender with some water.
Olive oil goes back in the pan, with some ARBORIO rice, enough oil to coat the kernels. Then add stock in batches, and stir with a flat utensil of some kind, slowly adding stock for about 18 minutes.
After the rice was getting nice and creamy, after approximately 10 minutes, I added the red pepper and onion mixture back into the pan.
Finished the cooking/stirring process for the next 8 muinutes, grabbed plates, some Frank's Red Hot and some sea salt.
Checked the risotto to see how it tasted, and as Julia Child would say "corrected" the seasoning. All this means is that you check to see if it needs more salt;)
When Bill walked in the door, I was on the couch, happily watching Chef At Home. Harrison was at the island nibbling his potato chip crusted fried tofu, which he thinks are better than Calamari, dunked in toasted sesame oil, soy sauce and hot sauce, and watching Spongebob.
I was able to hand him a red pepper risotto for dinner after a long hard day at the office...
Marilyn Monroe said once that she didn't mind being in a man's world, as long as she could be a woman in it. Truth be told, and as non-PC as this may sound, I LIKE being able to pull a satisfying dinner together for him, EVEN if I have worked as many hours as he has that day.
Whether dinner was easy or not is our little secret....
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