Sake Risotto

New: Bare Cupboards Challenge!

Tonight started off as not a good food night. I don’t have much in stock as I need to go to the store since it’s a new month. Pretty much, I had a bunch of sad vegetables, various legumes and frozen pot stickers. Also, ingredients for tons of ice cream but I haven’t gotten to that yet. I had no idea what I wanted to eat and it’s dreary and rainy.

Rooting through cupboards I found leftover arborio rice and I thought aha! I’ll make risotto and it will be perfect–creamy and warm but not too heavy. I even had asparagus. Or so I thought. Turns out I left the asparagus at a friend’s house, who then took it to work to give to me and then forgot about. So really, I didn’t have asparagus. Nor did I have wine. Or lemons. I had nothing I needed to make risotto, but darn it, I was determined to have risotto. I pulled out whatever I had that would work. I was determined not to go to the store and to use up my stuff that was going bad. So was born: Bare Cupboards Challenge, in which I refuse to go to the store and insist upon making what I have work. I can’t predict when the challenges will occur–other than it will be when I am running low on stuff.

I’m particularly proud of this quick thinking. Sake is totally wine! I did have a bottle of red wine, which can be used for risotto, but it comes out… weird. Pale purple. Not that appetizing.

My team: Dilapidated cilantro and parsley (not pictured), spinach, feta cheese, about-to-turn cauliflower, half an apple, rice, almonds and sake. Oh yeah, I had a yellow onion too but forgot about it until after I took this picture.

Hmm. Not bad. Lets go! At the end, I will tell you how it all turned out… and give you a shiny green RECOMMENDED or a warn-you-off red DO NOT WANT.

By the way, this recipe is marked as Italian since risotto is an Italian dish. However, see my “Suggestions” at the bottom for tips on turning into a Japanese-ish dish instead.

Yield

4-6 servings, depending on the size.

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups arborio rice or the shortest grain you can get (nomedium or long grain)
• 1/2 cup white wine or sake (red works too, but it looks weird and has a strong flavor)
• 4.5 cups broth (chicken, vegetable)
• half a yellow onion
• garlic to taste
• Whatever vegetables you have–equal about 2 cups worth
• 2-3 tbsp fresh herbs–I used parsley and cilantro
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

By the way, this whole recipe goes a lot smoother if you do it in stainless steel pots over a gas stove. If you have neither, well, I get it. It will still be just fine, it will just take longer.

Chop up your veggies like this.


Cook you up some broth, or use pre-made broth. Now me, I am super fancy. I have Maggi, which is like, Ukranian or something for “monosodium glutamate.”

Awww yeah. Only one sodium plus glutamate.

This dish would be a lot better if it was real broth/stock.

The instructions are on the jar. I recommend boullion over this MSG stuff, really.

Now, In at least a 3.5 qt pot (I would recommend 4 or 5 really), preheated over medium to medium-low heat, melt a pat of butter. How much is a pat, you ask?

Throw in the onions and garlic until they get kind of translucent. Like 5 minutes or so.

These ones are not yet translucent. But have faith, they will get there.

Then add the arborio rice, all of it at once, and give it a little mix.

A spatula is just fine for this dish.

Cook that rice for about 2 minutes or until you get sick of looking at it sitting there not doing much. 🙂 Now add the sake / wine. It should absorb pretty quickly and you are looking for something like this.

Now, turn the heat down to low and add in a cup of your broth. Just a cup. Begin stirring. You can take very short (like, seconds) breaks from stirring this, but if you walk away for a minute or more you’re gonna have a bad time (re: burned/stuck rice).

Now, if you have any hardy vegetables that take a long time to soften up, now would be a great time to add them. For me, I was using cauliflower. Broccoli would be another candidate, as would carrots, parsnips, turnips, radishes… get the picture?

See what I did there?

Alright, now you have to get patient. Stir the rice (and hardy vegetable) until the rice absorbs the liquid. This is a slow process of cooking the rice; the point of doing it in steps is that the rice will release its starch gradually, creating a creamy, sticky wonderful risotto.

The picture above is what you’re looking for–that’s the liquid having been mostly absorbed. You can see the “striations” caused on the bottom of the pan. Once you see this, add the next cup of broth.

Now you may or may not need 4.5 cups of broth. You might need 3 cups or 5 cups. I don’t know. it depends on your rice and probably your elevation (like how if you live in Estes Park, Colorado, your water will boil faster or whatever the rule is). I live at, I think, 300 ft above sea level, so I use 4.5 cups in this recipe.

Make sure you give the hardy vegetable the opportunity to simmer a bit covered with the liquid when you add new liquid so it can soften up.

Halfway through this rice absorption process you might want to add softer veggies, like zucchini or asparagus. Stuff that takes less time to cook. You could also just pan fry it elsewhere, or steam it, and add it at the end. I don’t know, go nuts!

Okay, so I got overzealous and dumped in the last of my broth all at once. I think it was well over a cup and it took way longer to absorb. But you know what? That’s okay. Just turn the heat up to medium and stir more vigorously. It’ll work out.

As you’re doing this, make sure to sample the rice every now and again to test the firmness. You can cook it to however you like as long as the liquid that you added is absorbed.

Next up, once you have a nice creamy risotto going (you’ll know because it will look creamy and it will start being hard to stir), add in the quick-cooking stuff or stuff you don’t want cooked very much. This would include greens of any kind, green onions, or finely grated carrots or cucumber or whatever.

Now what else should we add? Oh yeah, CHEESE! Also, salt and pepper to your taste.

Now mix it allllllll up and serve it. Yeah!

Huh, kinda looks like mashed potatoes. In the back row you see the remnants of the sad parsley which I forgot to water.

The verdict?

RECOMMENDED!

The sake did not change the flavor in any unpleasant way. It might have made it a teeny tiny bit sweeter, but it wasn’t bad at all. 

Suggestions!

I like the Japanese theme going on here introduced by the sake. Here’s what I would do if I had a full crisper drawer and pantry:

• Remove cauliflower. I don’t even like it that much.
• Remove feta. There’s not a whole lot of cheese going on in Asian cuisine.
• Add shitake mushrooms.
• Add green onions, sliced thinly.
• Add bok choy.
• Add Asian pear. (anyone wondering where that half-apple went? I decided I didn’t want to use it. Breakfast it will be instead!)
• Saute with sesame oil instead of butter.
• Introduce a teeny bit of Chinese 5 spice or cardamom. A very small amount–they are strong spices!
• If feeling REALLY adventurous, toss on some Panko and broil it for a minute.

Bare Cupboards Challenge number 1: success!

Print-friendly Directions

• 1.5 cups arborio rice or the shortest grain you can get (nomedium or long grain)
• 1/2 cup white wine or sake (red works too, but it looks weird and has a strong flavor)
• 4.5 cups broth (chicken, vegetable)
• half a yellow onion
• garlic to taste
• Whatever vegetables you have–equal about 2 cups worth
• 2-3 tbsp fresh herbs–I used parsley and cilantro
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Chop up your veggies in bite-sized pieces.
2. In at least a 3.5 qt pot (I would recommend 4 or 5 really), preheated over medium to medium-low heat, melt a pat of butter.
3. Throw in the onions and garlic and cook about 5 minutes, until translucent.
4. Then add the arborio rice, all of it at once, and give it a little mix.
5. Cook that rice for about 2 minutes, and then add the sake / wine. It should absorb pretty quickly and the rice will begin to get a bit sticky.
6. Now, turn the heat down to low and add in a cup of your broth. Just a cup. Begin stirring. You can take very short (like, seconds) breaks from stirring this, but if you walk away for a minute or more it’s going to stick and burn. Add in any hardy vegetables at this step.
7. Stir the rice (and hardy vegetable) until the rice absorbs the liquid. This is a slow process of cooking the rice; the point of doing it in steps is that the rice will release its starch gradually, creating a creamy, sticky wonderful risotto.
8. When the liquid is absorbed, add the next cup of broth and repeat the process.
9. Halfway through the rice absorption process, add softer veggies, like zucchini or asparagus.
10. Continue with the process of absorbing the liquid with the rice in small increments. As you’re doing this, make sure to sample the rice every now and again to test the firmness. You can cook it to however you like as long as the liquid that you added is absorbed.
11. Once you have a nice creamy risotto going (you’ll know because it will look creamy and it will start being hard to stir), add in the quick-cooking stuff or stuff you don’t want cooked very much. This would include greens of any kind, green onions, or finely grated carrots or cucumber.
12. Add in cheese, salt and pepper to taste.
13. Serve.