WE HEART RISOTTO!

Last night was a great entertaining night for us. I am not the type to entertain that often - something about the anxiety involving making a lot of food and satisfying guests. But my friend Elana came over to spend the day in Brooklyn (I shouldn't say more for fear that she will be an exiled Manhattanite!) and for us to make risotto together. I had only one risotto recipe left in Cupboard Love, so decided to go with that!

90. Dried Mushroom Risotto - *Risotto*
91. Courgette and Spinach Salad - *Pasta*

Even though risotto is said to be something that should be made for one person or two, I couldn't resist making it for a crowd because I know that I heart risotto, Elana hearts risotto, Rafa hearts risotto.... so risotto it was!

After going to the annual Mermaid Parade in Coney Island on a slightly drizzly Saturday afternoon (where we witnessed men and women in scantily clad costumes, most of the time with only some sea shells covering their bare essentials!), Elana and I headed off to see my sister. It was then that I learned that my sister was indeed going to join us for dinner with my brother-in-law, Roman, and my nephew, Liam, in tow... Ok, no probs. I was planning on making risotto for 4 but now would I have to make it for six?? My sister said she was bringing marinaded sole so I decided to stick with the 4 since I was making salad anyway.

After Elana and I got back to my apartment from hanging out a bit outside, we started cooking dinner. First, I soaked the porcini mushrooms in some hot water.
Tom calls for 50g for a portion of two; I was able to find the dried mushrooms for $3.99 for 13 grams at Dom's - so that would mean for a portion of two I would have to spend close to 16 bucks just for the mushrooms. Not happenin'! I'm sorry, I'm sure it would have been fab but there was no way I could justify it, especially since I would have had to spend $32 now that I planned on making a portion for 4! Since the mushroom stock would have had to come from the porcinis, I decided to make it up by using some porcini stock cubes I also got at Dom's.

While the mushrooms were soaking, we got on with the chopping for the ingredients in the risotto and salad. First we blanched some courgette (zucchini) slices in boiling salted water...


... and drained them and let them cool.

Then Elana chopped up the onions (good job, Elana!) while I got on with the garlic. She continued to chop up fresh mushrooms (I just got button mushrooms) and I cut up some sage leaves. We let all of those sweat away in a pan for a few minutes.

At around that time, the porcinis were done soaking. I drained them and reserved the liquid as stock. I added it to a simmering pan of water with a stock cube dissolving in it. For the porcinis, I just simply blitzed them until they were almost like a paste.

Then I added the rice, tomato purée, and some white wine to the onion mixture, and I let it bubble away for a little bit. Then, I lowered the heat and started to add stock. I was wow'ed by the color of the mixture and also how lovely it smelled in my apartment - onions, mushroom and sage!

The zucchini slices were dressed with balsamic vinegar, olive oil and salt once cool and put in the fridge. At the last moment, a handful of baby spinach was added to them, and the salad was complete!
The final ingredients for the risotto were being prepared like taking out the butter and grating some parmesan. This is 'proper' parmesan, as I ran out of poorman'sgrana. The education of Ilana is complete!


Once the risotto was the texture I wanted, I took it off the fire and quickly added the parmesan and some butter! I let it sit covered for just a few minutes. By then all the guests had arrived and we sat to eat fairly soon after the risotto was done! Perfect timing -- but a hell of a lot of risotto, this is a portion of 4?

To die-hard risotto fans like me, I see a big mound of risotto like this and just want to dive in, face first. I was not so sure of Roman and Liam's reaction. Roman tends to be a more, erm, discerning critic, and Liam is 16 months old. But both men loved it!! As did everyone else!!

The risotto was really perfect; my sister said it was better than risotto at the Risotteria on Bleecker Street. What?? A place that its prime menu item is risotto, and I have never heard of it??! What's this. I must go! Well I have never eaten there so cannot really compare theirs with mine, but it sounded like a pretty good compliment! The risotto was deep with the flavors of the mushrooms and sage. I'm sure it would have been even more fab with more porcinis but I think they still did their job!

My sister brought sole marinaded in mustard and soy. It was in the oven while we ate the risotto and salad (which was good, not unbelievable, but people seemed to like it), and then the fish was a perfect accompaniment to the other dishes. I hardly eat fish; correction: I don't eat fish, apart from sushi. So, I was quite excited to see a non-fishy pretty fish in front of me. And it was delicious too! Proud of my sister I am!

We ate and laughed and ran after my rambunctious nephew for a while.. a great evening indeed. And all the plates were licked clean - we only had a little risotto left which I put in a separate container for Liam's lunch the next day. Dinner was followed by the one-year old tiramisu. This tiramisu was given to my sister and Roman about a year ago, but not being huge tiramisu fans, they had it in the freezer -- for a year! But it was fabulous; actually it was the best tiramisu ever! Mmmmm!

After dinner we went to listen to Korean jazz! The music was OK but I was actually really entertained by the facial movements of the overenthusiastic keyboardist. Well, as long as the company was good, I wasn't complaining! And memories of a great evening had by all.. Now, all after me, We Heart Risotto!!