Daring Cooks - Risotto

Risotto has been on my to-make list for years, so I was really excited about this month's challenge. I've tried to make it once before, with awful results. I was making a wild mushroom risotto and somehow I ended up with a dish that looked like lumpy gray glue that, while actually still tasty, was incredibly unappealing. This one was much more successful.

Usually making stock means saving up the bones from a chicken, and I don't put in too many vegetables. This was a great excuse to go all out though, and the meat made for a great chicken salad the next day!

It's amazing... as soon as onions start to fry, everyone is amazed at how good whatever the dish is will be. I didn't take the onions out, as the recipe called for since we all love onions. The rice required more stock than I expected to get to that lovely tender stage. I'd been reducing the stock to amplify the flavor, and just barely had enough.

The shrimp in Texas were amazing... so fresh and tender. The last few stages of the risotto went quickly to keep the shrimp from overcooking. And then of course the parmesan...

Risotto. Tender, flavorful and nothing even remotely resembling glue. This may become a frequent dinner in our house!

The 2010 March Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Eleanor of MelbournefoodGeek and Jess of Jessthebaker. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make risotto. The various components of their challenge recipe are based on input from the Australian Masterchef cookbook and the cookbook Moorish by Greg Malouf.