. . . We all scream. Risotto!

Risotto with White Mushrooms & Peas

Ah, risotto, a fancy comfort food that can be prepared lightly enough to enjoy even in the summertime.  Risotto needs a lot of active love while its cooking, but if you're used to scratch cooking regularly, its requirements are nothing more needy than an average stir fry for example.   There is a basic recipe to follow when cooking risotto but the ingredients that can be added to it are infinite. Use what you have around or what you find seasonally available at the farmer's market.  My latest version was made last Friday in a pinch when my son came down with a virus and we were unable to follow through on our plans to go out to eat-I used white mushrooms, which I had just bought at the grocery store and peas- well, because I was in a pinch, and I always have frozen peas around for my son.  To make a good risotto you need white wine and broth.  Luckily for me, white wine is usually around because I like drinking it, especially in summer, and since I started eating more plant-based meals, I almost always keep vegetable broth around to steam or saute vegetables.

Risotto with White Mushrooms and Peas
Serves 4

The vegetables may change but dry white wine and broth are always a must.

Ingredients:
2 cups arborio rice
4 cups vegetable broth, warmed over low heat in a saucepan
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 large white or yellow onion, chopped
1 cup English peas, thawed if using frozen
1 cup white mushrooms, quartered
2 tbsp fresh rosemary or thyme, finely chopped
1 cup dry white wine
2 tbsp vegan butter substitute
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
salt & pepper to taste

Directions: Heat a large saute pan with a high lip over medium heat while you chop your onion and garlic and warm your vegetable broth.  Once the pan is preheated, add the vegan butter and olive oil to the pan. Once the oil/butter combo is shimmering, add the onion and garlic to the pan, season with salt & pepper and stir occasionally until they are softening (about 5 minutes).  Add the arborio rice grains directly to the pan and stir them for about a minute until they are incorporated. Then add the cup of white wine to the pan and turn the heat up a bit, stirring occasionally while the white wine reduces and the dish becomes fragrant.  Once the wine has reduced (about 3 minutes) turn the heat back down to medium and add vegetable broth to the pan, one ladle at a time.  You want to stir the broth into the rice, waiting until the broth is almost fully absorbed before adding another ladle.  Then repeat this step a few times until the rice mixture is thickening and softening.  When cooking risotto, the 1:2 ratio of rice to liquid is pretty standard for cooking rice of any kind, so you will have probably gone through nearly all the broth before the rice grains are al dente and ready to eat.  As you are nearing the bottom of the broth, add the peas and mushrooms to the risotto pan and let them warm as you perform the last round or two of stirring broth into the rice.  Then add in the rosemary or thyme and a generous helping of salt and pepper.  Serve immediately.

Vegetarian non-vegan option: add 1/2  cup grated Parmesan and 1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese to the risotto just before serving

Free-for-All option: Cook 2 links sweet Italian sausage and crumble them into the risotto at the end.  The sausage can be cooked in a separate pan and added to the meat-eaters' risotto after the vegan and/or vegetarian portions have been plated.