Daring to do it: Risotto

My first Daring Cook's challenge!! So exciting!!

The March 2010 Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Eleanor of Melbournefoodgeek and Jess of Jessthebaker. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make risotto. The various components of their challenge recipe are based on input from the Australian Masterchef cookbook and the cookbook Moorish by Greg Malouf.

I have made risotto once before, and liked it, but it wasn't something that I thought of to make regularly. I tend to try not to keep too many different types of rices in the kitchen, as space is kind of an issue. But I was psyched to try it again, and knew that this would be a lot of fun.

One of the things I love about the Daring Kitchen is that people are encouraged to take the recipe and put their own spin on it. Right away I knew this would be necessary, as chicken stock wasn't something I was about to be making in my vegetarian kitchen. Vegetable stock, on the other hand, was something I had been wanting to make for a LONG time. I had in my freezer baggies full of onion peels, broccoli stems and asparagus trimmings, just waiting for the opportunity to turn them into stock. I added the frozen booty, along with some fresh carrots, bay leaves and spices to the stoneware of my crock pot, filled it with water and set it simmering. At the end of the day, after a trip through the strainer, I was left with some beautiful vegetable stock! The flavor was a little blander than I had hoped, but this is probably because I tend to under-salt things. So next time I make stock, (and I am already stockpiling "scraps" in my freezer for the next time!) I will know to add a lot more salt, and maybe some soy sauce...

It was then time to determine what kind of risotto I would be making. One of the ways our meal plans are determined is by the weekly circulars. This particular week, broccoli was a good price, so I decided to make roasted broccoli and garlic risotto with pecorino Romano cheese. So I set the stock to simmer, got the broccoli and garlic into the oven to roast, and started sauteing the onion. In went the rice to toast a bit, then it was time to make the risotto. Risotto is one of those things that seems like it ought to be really complicated, but it isn't. It is just needs a good amount of attention. So Hubby was on Little Girl duty while I added stock and stirred and simmered away!

Then end result was well worth the effort!!

The saltiness of the cheese balanced the "mildness" of the stock beautifully. The roasted broccoli and garlic gave such a nice flavor making the dish really just superb. I was so excited to have a) made such a yummy risotto and b) successfully done my first challenge!

But.

I didn't leave well enough alone. Having this extra arborio rice in the house, and loving desserts as much as I do, I knew I had to try a dessert risotto. For this I knew I wouldn't be using my vegetable stock. It might not have had the flavor I had hoped for, but it certainly wasn't at all dessert-y!! So my dessert stock was vanilla soy milk infused with a vanilla bean, a cinnamon stick, some brown sugar and some nutmeg. Using this, I made a strawberries and cream risotto. If you have ever had rice pudding, this tops it! The creaminess of the risotto makes for a decadent dessert! For those who aren't convinced about risotto because of the texture, try it as a dessert - it not only expands the flavor possibilities, it makes the creaminess make sense!

Thank you so much Eleanor and Jess for hosting this challenge and bringing risotto back into my life! And thank you to the Daring Kitchen for welcoming me in and letting me Dare along with you!!