Fresh Fast Risotto

Risotto is hands down one of my all time favourite starchy foods.  There is nothing like a plate full of creamy, dreamy, flavour packed carby bites of deliciousness.  I really don’t think I’ve ever met a risotto I didn’t like.

However…  Oddly enough I’ve never made risotto at home.  I think originally I thought it would be a very difficult task.  And then I think I thought it would be a bad idea to have a delectable pot of creamy rice sitting around unprotected. 

But when Tia lent me this Donna Hay cookbook the first recipe I gravitated towards was the Lemon and Spinach Risotto.  I was sold.

I loved the sound of fresh lemon swirled in and anything that calls for spinach is OK in my mind.    I opted to make shrimp instead of scallops, but let’s be honest…I didn’t really care about that part anyway.

Like a good girl I stuck to the recipe for this first attempt…except I happened to have chicken stock on hand, so subbed that for the veggie stock…and I made only a half batch because a full batch would mean disaster on the figure frontier.

I hope Donna Hay doesn’t mind if I share this recipe with you.  FYI:  I had never spent any time on her website before, but WOW…check it out.  So many lovely simple ideas.

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup Arborio rice
• 2 3/4 cups low sodium stock (chicken or veggie)
• 1 tsp grated lemon peel (I also added a squeeze of the juice)
• 300 grams baby spinach
• fresh parmesan for garnish
• salt & pepper

Directions:

1. Heat the stock in a saucepan over med-high heat.  Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer.
2. Heat the oil in another saucepan (I actually used my large non-stick skillet) over med-high heat.  Add the rice, cook for one minute, stirring to coat.
3. Add the stock, 1 cup at a time, stirring frequently and cooking until the stock has been absorbed. Continue adding stock and stirring until all liquid has been absorbed and rice is tender.
4. Remove from heat. Season with salt & pepper (I found I didn’t need salt because the chicken stock added enough).  Stir in the lemon and spinach until combined and the spinach is wilted.
5. Serve.  Sprinkle with parmesan and serve with lemon wedges if desired.

Honestly, I have no idea why I thought this would be difficult.  Aside from having to stand there and stir for the better part of 10 or 15 minutes, it’s dead simple.  Another plus is that this did not require any odd ingredients that I don’t normally have on hand (especially now that I own a bag of arborio rice).  I suspect with Autumn approaching there will be various flavour combos being fiddled with in my kitchen in the months to come.

Those Shrimp:  simply sautéed in a smidge of oil with salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice.  Easy peasy.