So, something rare happened in the “Shapiro” household this past weekend; we ran out of meat. This is quite the accomplishment from the couple whose freezer has been called the “meat freezer” by roommates past! Brent actually thought the idea that there was no meat in the fridge/freezer was so absurd that he actually pulled every last vegetable out of the freezer to prove me wrong…he couldn’t.

So I had to get creative!

The way I won Brent’s heart was through my risotto; when we were still “just friends”, he would stop at my place on the way home and I would cook dinner for us – I hate cooking for one! So I decided I would pull out the Organic Harvest Medley rice we had picked up at Costco recently, and give it a whirl in a more healthy place of the more traditional Arborio or Carnaroli rice that I would normally use for risotto. It’s a blend of Calimati brown rice, wild rice (actually not rice, but that’s another story), sweet brown rice and Heirloom red rice.

I raided the herb garden for some fresh thyme

The chopped it up with my favourite kitchen implement ever; my mezzaluna.

Found a bag of dehydrated wild mushroom blend in the back of the pantry and rehydrated them by soaking them in warm water for about 20 minutes.

The last onion in the cupboard got diced:

Now I know some of you already saw risotto and rolled your eyes thinking it’s too complicated. It’s really not. I think risotto is one of those dishes that (many) chefs talk up as being so difficult, just so that they can look like brilliant maestros in the kitchen when they pull it off. Phooey to them; mine is delicious (ask Brent) and it’s not dramatic at all.

Here’s the recipe:

1 cup Harvest Medley rice (if making traditional risotto use arborio or carnaroli)

4 cups vegetable (or chicken) stock (6 cups if you use the Harvest rice)

3/4 cup of diced yellow/brown onion

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 cup chopped mixed wild mushrooms (mine was shitaake, enoki and chanterelle)

1.5 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme

3 cups dry white wine (split into 1 cup and 2 cups)

4 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Heat stock in a saucepan on the stovetop and keep it warm (it will absorb into the rice better if it’s hot).

Put a heavy bottomed pan on the stove and heat to medium high heat, with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add diced onion and cook till translucent, add garlic and thyme for about a minute, stirring regularly so it doesn’t brown too much (a little brown is ok).

Add the mushrooms stir to combine, about another minute, then add 1 cup of white wine and simmer till the wine is absorbed by the mixture. Move the mushroom mixture out of the pan to a bowl.

Add the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil to the pan (still on medium high heat) and add the rice to the pan. Fry the rice off for a couple of minutes until it start to look pearly and shiny.

Add the remaining 2 cups of wine to the pan and stir regularly till the wine absorbs into the rice.

If you’re using the rice like I did, you can just add all the stock to the pan, put the lid on and simmer on a low heat for about 40 minutes; stirring occasionally. If you’re using proper risotto rice, add the stock a cup/ladleful at a time, waiting till each cup has absorbed before adding the next one. The only “drawback” to using proper risotto rice is that you have to stir it a lot more. The benefit to using that rice is that you’ll end up with a much more rich and creamy risotto! Yum!

Once all the stock is absorbed you should be done (taste a bit to double check the rice is totally cooked -  I usually make an extra cup of stock just in case I get stubborn rice!

Add the mushroom mixture and parmesan cheese, stir till the cheese is melted and everything is well distributed. Serve immediately!

Serves 2 with leftovers for lunch the next day. (Also makes delicious fried risotto balls the next day)