Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Risotto with Chicken and Spring Vegetables
Is today really only Tuesday? I don't know why, but I walked around all day believing it was Thursday. Imagine my disappointment when I finally learned the truth! But whatever the day is, it was really entirely un-memorable. ... Although, now that I think of it, one of my colleagues is getting married and we all clubbed together to buy him a present: A huge wok (one of the nice, light Chinese ones, not a heavy stove-top useable wok pan) filled with different Asian cooking ingredients, two rice bowls with chopsticks, an Asian-inspired candle and a pan-Asian cookbook. Much to our delight he was truly blown away. This made a great change in an otherwise dull day.Sadly for our palates and my self-esteem dinner did not. I tried to make a chicken and vegetable risotto, but forgot to check if I had all the ingredients before I started cooking. At first
it looked good, but 5 minutes before dishing up I found that there was not enough cheese in the house. A small handful of grated cheddar was all that was left. I also had a bit of Parmesan which I added. But, as I mentioned before, Lofty and I like our risotto gooey and stringy. I tried to save it with a bit of Appenzeller, but a mixture of leftover cheeses is just not the same as fresh buffalo mozzarella. So the risotto came out, shall I say, more traditional. This is not to mean that it wasn't nice. Once I had dished up, I drizzled a bit of truffle oil over the rice and sprinkled it with freshly grated black truffle. Not exactly the most seasonal rescue, but definitely a very tasty one. I have posted my recipe for risotto before, so I won't bug you with a guide to this failed attempt. If you want the foolproof version, simply click here. But do make sure you have enough cheese before the rice is cooked. Guten Appetit.Christine at 10:52 pm
