Non Flouncy Risotto...non posh....not hard to do.

[Zak33]

OK....I bet half the people in the world, who cook a fair bit, never made risotto.

So I have been experimenting and I want some of you to try it.

It is a zero stress cook....its a doddle AND we won't be using real risotto rice. None of this real arborio rice...just plain old long grain or even basmati

I want you to look in your fridge, see what veg you have, and if there's any bacon. Grab what you have (ie onion peas, brocolli, tomatoes)

Any cheap jars of dried italian herbs. about 85p in supermarket.

You need 1 chicken stock cube, 1 cup of whatever rice you've got and some oil If you have olive oil, its best (aqnd now bleedin' cheap) if not sunflower oil. Small lump of cheese if you've got it. If not, dont fret.

You need a chicken stock cube (dont care what brand) and put it in a jug and put 1 pint of boiling water on it. Stir till disolved.

Get a frying pan, pour in about 3 glugs of oil. This aint science. Heat gently, and then add sprinkling of italian herbs. Chop bacon and /or onion finely and whack it in, and fry gently (3 or 4 mniutes)

Pour one cup of rice in, raw, and stir fry it for about 5 minutes, overa mild heat.

The rice startch is sealed in, and the flavours frm the oil/onion/herbs soaks into the rice.

Now, add the stock, a spalsh at a time, and keep it moving by gently stirring....never flood it...just a splash, then stir, wait for it to be absobed and a splash more.

Very calm form of cooking...no hurry, you can slow it down if you need to, even turn it off and start it again later.

Keep tasting the rice to see when its cooked....you might use all the stock and no worries, use boiling water from the kettle after that...you might not use all the stock you made with that chicken stock cube. Who cares....not you and me

When the rice is nearly perfect (going slightly creamy, good bite, tastes nice) whack in finely chopped stuff from your fridge....brocoli, tomatoes...what ever yuo have.

And at the very end, grate some cheese into it and stir that too....add a splash of oil to loosen to make it yummy.

Try it..I dare you

[Moby-Dick]

sounds like my way of making it

if you arn't squeemish , get some chicken livers from tesco ( a pot of them costs about 50p ) chop em up pretty fine and fry them off - they'll almost disolve into the risotto for a fantastic flavour.

[Kebab]

Quite like the one I did yesterday, only difference I used a splash or two of martini (well dry vermouth from Liddle but yeah any vermouth or white wine will do, red can to but your risotto will take the colour) before putting the chicken stock. I used basmati, it was very nice, but I have to admit it doesn't compare to Carnaroli rice, even though the latter takes longer to cook.

I might try the chicken livers, do you fry them off before putting them in the risotto or did you cook them in?

[Moby-Dick]

I gave them a quick fry off first then stirred them in.
fry them in butter if you can

[KnightWhoSaysNi]

This is good. I used a box of squid ink risotto, which tastes OK but it makes rather unappetizing grey mush.

[iranu]

Originally Posted by Zak33

Get a frying pan, pour in about 3 glugs of oil. This aint science.

ROFL. Mate I do believe you have just invented another SI unit - The glug. Quality. Perfectly describes the amount of liquid required.

Dictionary definition: make a gurgling sound as of liquid issuing from a bottle; "the wine bottles glugged"

Just like area can be described by comparing it to the size of Wales or Torque can be measured in "buckets" or "bags".