Creamy Mushroom Risotto

Last night my daughter made the best creamy risotto I think I've ever had.

Now,I've made risotto before, but it wasn't this creamy in fact it was even a tad bit crunchy.

I had always followed the instructions on the rice package which called for 4 cups of chicken broth, but the recipe my daughter followed called for 6 cups! Both for 1 cup of Arborio rice. So you can see the difference.

This dish was inspired by a recipe in Martha Stewart's magazine, Everyday Food, with a few changes. We did not have any wine, so we left it out and we didn't use the cheese as my daughter is staying away from cheese. We also left our the herbs as we did not have any fresh at the time. But it was still delicious!

Here is the recipe the way she made it.

Cremy Mushroom Risotto

6 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup butter
1 large shallot, diced
1/2 pound button mushrooms, sliced
1 cup Arbrio rice
2 tablespoons butter

1. In a saucepan bring the broth to a simmer, reduce heat and keep warm.
2. In a 10 inch heavy skillet melt the butter over medium-high heat.
3. Add the shallots and mushrooms and season with salt and pepper and cook about 4-5 minutes.
4. Add the rice and cook, stirring, about 1 minute.
5. Using a ladle add 1 cup of the broth to the rice and cook and stir until the liquid is absorbed. Repeat the process until all the rice is tender and the sauce is creamy. This should take about 20-25 minutes.
6. Remove from heat and stir in the 2 tablespoons of butter and salt and pepper to taste and serve immediately.

In the magazine it says this will serve 4 people, but we found (as with most of her recipes) that, as a side dish, it would easily serve 6.

And that is this gal's view for today.

Fabulous Friday

It's Friday yet again with another weekend on the horizon.

It will be a bit busy for us. We're going to be celebrating by son's 28th birthday. I have a shopping trip planned with my daughter, I'm cashing in on my Mother's Day gift. And there are two basketball playoff games to watch and The Preakness! Will there be a triple crown winner this year, do you think?

But before all of that fun let's start with this week's tip.

Rice.

Now I'm not a terribly big fan of rice.

But the family likes it so I'm always trying to get it just right.

Last night for dinner I made orange chicken and I wanted to serve it with rice. My daughter had jasmine rice in a restaurant recently and she loved it, so I decided to give it a try.

I bought brown jasmine rice. Since the brown rice does not go through the milling process of white rice the husk is left in tact and so the rice is not stripped of it's fiber, essential oils and minerals.

As a matter of fact brown rice has 3.5 times more fiber than it's white counter part. And it has 88 percent of the recommended daily amount of manganese which helps to helps produce energy from protein and carbohydrates, aids in the body's synthesis of fatty acids, promotes central nervous system health and aids in the production of good cholesterol. It also has selenium which helps to ward of colon cancer, boosts the immune system, and plays a key role in thyroid hormone metabolism.

So you see, you get lots of bang for your buck when you eat brown jasmine rice.

But how to cook it?

Well I searched around on the internet and this is what I came up with.

1. Soak 1 cup of brown rice in 2 cups of cold water for 1 hour.
2. Drain the rice and put into a medium saucepan and place over a medium temperature burner until the rice dries out.
3. Meanwhile boil a little over 2 cups of water.
4. After the rice is "dry", pour the boiling water over it and add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Bring the rice back to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for 40 minutes.
6. Don't stir it while it's cooking.
7. At the end of 40 minutes remove from heat and let sit, with lid on, for another 10 minutes.

This was really good! It was kind of sticky, which I liked and it had a nice nutty taste to it. I will definitely make it again.

And that is this gal's view for today. Have an awesome weekend!

Fried Rice

Continuing on our quest to use up all the Easter ham, tonight's dinner will be fried rice. The only ingredient I had to shop for was mushrooms.

Fried Rice

cooked rice (I cooked 1 & 1/2 cups of rice earlier in the day)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
mushrooms, chopped, as many or as few as you'd like
leftover ham,chicken, or steak, cubed
handful of peas, more or less, to taste
soy sauce, to taste
2 eggs

I use my wok for this dish, but a large skillet will also work well. Heat oil in wok until hot. Add onion and garlic and cook until soft. Add mushrooms and cook until browned. Add meat and cook till heated through. Add rice and soy sauce. Continue to cook and stir. Add peas. Meanwhile break eggs into a small bowl and beat with a fork, pour into a hot, oiled skillet and cook on both sides. Turn cooked eggs onto a cutting board and chop. Add the eggs to the rice mixture. Cook and stir some more and serve right away.


This is a great, quick meal idea and also works well as a leftover for lunch the next day.

And that is this gal's view for today.