rice again

Rice risotto is a totally underrated dish. Here’s how I’ve been come to make it through a little teaching and a lot of improvisation.

Disclaimer:I am a layman. I’m not a chef, food buff, critic or expert. I’m definitely not Jamie Oliver, this isn’t Pucker Tucker… I guess you could call it F$%ker Tucker. I enjoy cooking and the reactions it elicits.. i guess it’s like writing.

From what i’m told for dark meats you could use beef stock and a red wine, seafood’s, chicken etc, use a chicken broth and a nice Chardonnay. Anyway you can flavor a risotto with almost anything once you have the basic principals down. I apologise if I’m offending any chefs or Italian people. I welcome feedback in the comments.

Which brings me to the booze. I saw a famous TV chef the other day, on Discovery Travel and Living, who said you should never use a wine to cook that you wouldn’t consider fit for drinking. I used an Aussie Chardonnay because it was all I could find. If you can find a Kiwi it would whip the pants off any Aussie. I like to drink as I cook, so this rule suits me fine.

For those of you reading from China, I’ve often said that the easiest way to a Chinese girls heart is through her stomach. Don’t use risotto though. Risotto confuses Chinese people and elicits responses like “why the hell did you cook rice like that?”

Introductions and disclaimers aside, here’s how I cook it, complete with rubbish photos.

Ingredients

Olive oil
Short Grain rice
Onion
Chicken Stock
Bacon (why? because it’s good)
Parmesan Cheese
White Wine

1. Finely chop your onion and bacon. Fry the bacon in a deep pan until almost crispy. Remove from the pan and add a little olive oil. Next saute the onions.

 

Warm the chicken broth. Usually I use chicken stock powder diluted in water and left simmering on the stove.

2. Add your short-grain rice to the pan. fry the rice with the sauteed onions in the olive oil and bacon fat until translucent.

3. Pour in some wine! The rice will suck it up real fast usually I add a glass to a cup of rice but I’m pretty arbitrary, I’m usually thinking about how much is left to drink.

4. when the wine is soaked up add a little broth . keep adding broth as needed as the rice cooks and begins to soften.

5. when almost cooked, add the bacon bits.

6. when the rice is soft add grated Parmesan cheese to taste and mix through. Add ground pepper and salt to taste. (salt is probably not needed if you used stock powder)

Serve with a salad and the rest of your wine.