success with risotto!

Last fall, I tried making risotto for the first time, and it came out awful. I think, looking back on the experience, that it was overdone, but I didn't know that, because I was looking for the consistency change and didn't taste it until I thought it looked creamy "enough." That was dumb, because I had never made it before, so how would I know what "enough" was?

Recently, however, I've seen Giada DeLaurentis make a red wine risotto -- twice -- on the Food Network, which I watch pretty much all day, every day. The first time I saw it, I toyed with the idea of trying it one more time. After all, it IS very easy. But when I saw the SAME episode again last week, I figured fate was trying to tell me it was time to do it. So last night, I made it, and I kept tasting it during the cooking, which was the key to figuring out when it was done. It turned out FANTASTIC. Eric said it reminded him of Italy -- how much better of a compliment could I be looking for?! Eric grilled up a chicken breast to go with it, and, because I was so proud of my achievement, we took a picture:

Red wine risotto with peas and grilled chicken. The parsley in the risotto and used for the garnish is from my windowsill garden!

Here's the recipe:
Put a large pan on medium heat. Melt 3 Tbsp butter, add ~1 cup diced onion and saute until translucent. Add 2 cloves chopped garlic, sautee another 30 seconds. Add 1 cup arborio rice and toast in pan for about 2 minutes. Add 1/2 cup red wine, stir until wine is absorbed, about 2 minutes. Add about 3/4 cup simmering chicken broth/stock, stir until broth is absorbed, about 2-4 minutes. Keep adding broth in 3/4 cup increments and stirring until the broth gets absorbed. You'll use about 3-3.5 cups of broth. After a few broth cycles, TASTE the rice. Is it still crunchy? Needs to cook more! You're looking for a creamy consistency and a creamy taste without a crunch. Don't overcook it or it will become too starchy. When you've gotten the consistency right, add any remaining broth, then add about 1/3 cup of frozen peas, a handful of chopped (flat-leaf/Italian) parsley, and 1/3-1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese (I used the stuff from the shake bottle; I can't afford real cheese at this point in my life). Let it all simmer together (might want to turn heat to low at this point) for a few minutes and add salt and pepper to taste. Serve in bowls with extra cheese and parsley on top. If you want, grill a chicken breast while the risotto is cooking and serve that as well. Remember: keep stirring the rice constantly so it will absorb all of the broth. And taste often! You can also use white wine instead of red, or not use wine at all.

This weekend, we also made shepherd's pie, which also turned out pretty well, but could have used a little more spice for flavor. Paprika, or salt, or something. We'll remember for next time.

Other things I did this weekend:

• Saw Cars, which was absolutely awesome. I highly recommend it.
• I learned how to make Roman shades at a sewing class, so I'll have to try that out sometime. The only problem is, your first one is best suited to a small window to save yourself a lot of agony, and we don't have any small windows in this apartment (normallly a good thing!), so I might have to just make a test version for nothing in particular.
• Went to the batting cages to get some practice in before our next softball game tomorrow. I'm on a team with Eric's work, and it's pretty fun and low-key. The only problem is, we're the only low-key, laid-back team in the league, so we might be in for some awful beats. But I'm OK with that, because everyone else is OK with it (and I'm not very good at softball), and as long as we keep that attitude, we'll have lots of fun.

I feel like I'm forgetting something, but that's OK, because it was still a jam-packed weekend.