Risotto

For yesterday's noontime meal, Walt and I made an Italian rice dish called risotto.The rice for it is not boiled but sort of steamed and sautéed at the same time. The first step is is to start cooking the rice grains by filming the botton of a non-stick pan with a little bit of olive (or other) oil and tossing them in it over medium-high heat until the grains start to become translucent. Then you start adding hot meat broth (beef, veal, chicken, turkey...) to the pan over high heat and letting the rice absorb the liquid. Keep stirring the rice and scraping the bottom of the pan to keep it from sticking. You repeat that step as many times as necessary for the rice grains get tender — no longer crunchy — and for all the liquid to be absorbed or evaporated. It takes 15 or 20 minutes.

We bought the type of rice you need to make risotto at one of our local supermarkets. It's called Arbori0 rice. I had plenty of home-made turkey broth in the freezer. Walt went to the outdoor market in Saint-Aignan and bought some green asparagus spears. We poached the asparagus spears in the turkey broth until they were tender. The asparagus gave added flavor to the broth. After they had cooked we cut the spears into half-inch pieces and added them to the rice. As the rice and asparagus finished cooking, we stirred it all together with some grated parmesan cheese. It was really delicious.Don't forget the salt and pepper. This would also be good with green beans or mushrooms instead of asparagus.