Risotto
I absolutely love risotto. I’ve never tried to make it before. I wanted a delicious side to the Korean BBQ Chicken I made last weekend. I took a nose dive into some of my Italian cookbooks and cruised around the web a little for information on risotto ingredients and preparation techniques. Here’s what I found …
A quick read on risotto history and recipes can be found here. Most of my cookbooks really didn’t explain what risotto really was and the caveats on preparing it. One recipe I found in Lidia Bastianich’s cookbook Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen really caught my attention. It explained that once you understand how to prepare a basic risotto, you can parlay that skill into making any type of risotto you could imagine. The basics are the key to pretty much all cooking and just about everything else in life.
I followed Lidia’s “master plan” for preparing risotto and made a few of my own changes along the way. Nice!
4½ cups hot chicken stock
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium white onion, minced
1 leek, white parts only, trimmed, cleaned and chopped
6 scallions, white and green parts chopped separately
2 cups Italian Aborio rice
â…“ cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons butter, cut into four pieces
â…“ up freshly grated Parimigiano-Reggiano cheese
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
Pour the chicken stock in a small sauce pan and keep it hot over medium heat. In a large sauté pan, heat the oil over medium heat and stir in the onions. Sauté the onions until softened, about four minutes. Stir in the leeks and white parts of the scallions and sauté for another six minutes. The onions should start to brown. Stir in the rice making sure all of the grains get covered with the oil. Keep stirring often for the next two to three minutes until the edges of the grains become translucent. Pour in the wine and let it boil. Keep stirring the rice till the wine has evaporated.

Season the rice with salt and ladle enough of the hot chicken stock into the sauté pan until it barely covers the rice. Bring to a boil then lower the heat to maintain a lively simmer. Continue cooking while stirring constantly until all the stock has been absorbed and you can see the bottom of the pan when you stir. Continue cooking, pouring the remaining hot stock in small batches. Each addition of stock should be only enough to completely moisten the rice. Continue doing this until the stock has been absorbed. All this should take 15-20 minutes from the time you added the wine.


Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the butter and green parts of the scallions until the butter is completely melted. Stir in half the grated cheese. Taste the risotto and add more salt if you like and then add the freshly ground black pepper. Top with grated cheese and serve immediately.

I like a creamy risotto so I used another two cups of chicken stock. This also added to the cooking time since I had 50% more stock to absorb. I also squeezed a little lemon juice at the end. This basic recipe can be taken into an infinite number of directions. Try adding some smoked chicken at the end. I’d like to add some saffron to the chicken stock next time I make it. Shrimp risotto should be good. Maybe I’ll try making an asparagus risotto. I’m guessing all I would have to do is add some steamed & chopped asparagus tips to the risotto at the end of the cooking. Yeah, that’s the ticket! Arrivederci! Yankees suck!
Heat oven to 200. Place the boneless cutlets in a large zip-up plastic bag and pound thin with a meat mallet. Mix the eggs and the milk in a wide, shallow bowl. Place the bread crumbs in another wide, shallow bowl. Heat the oil in a large sauté pan. Dredge the cutlets in the bread crumbs, then in the egg wash and then in the bread crumbs again. Place the coated cutlets in the hot oil and sauté for 5-7 minutes on each side or until they are golden brown. You may only be able to cook one or two cutlets at a time depending on how large of a pan you have. Add a little more oil if the pan gets too dry. As they are done, transfer them to the oven to keep warm.
When all the cutlets are done add the minced onion to the pan and sauté for a couple minutes then add the minced garlic, salt & pepper. Sauté for another five minutes or until the onions begin to appear translucent. Add 1 cup of the beef broth and turn the heat up to high. Let the broth boil down for about 10-12 minutes. Add the mushrooms, the other cup of beef broth, the cream and the Maggi seasoning. Let it boil down for a few minutes while stirring. Take the three teaspoons of flour and mix it with the last ½ cup of beef broth in a small bowl or measuring cup. Mix it well with a fork till it is all dissolved. Slowly stir in the flour/broth mixture while the pan is boiling. This will thicken the sauce up pretty good. Use your judgment on how thick you want it. It will continue to thicken for a minute or two after you stop pouring in the flour/broth mixture. Reduce heat to medium and cook slowly for five minutes while stirring.











