[recipe] fake!risotto
it uses leftover rice so it's super fast, as well as super tasty.
put about 1/3 a stick of butter in the bottom of a pot with a little bit of chicken or vegetable stock. melt on medium high heat.
I'm lazy, so I'm almost always guaranteed to use garlic powder and onion powder instead of actual garlic and onion but if you wanted to use the real stuff instead, this is when you'd add the onion and garlic (sliced and minced, respectively) to the bottom of your pot. Then cook on medium high to high heat until the garlic and onion is slightly brown/translucent before adding more soup stock and your leftover rice.
If you're lazy like me, then just add leftover rice and enough soup stock to completely cover it to the pot. Stir gently so that the butter at the bottom gets evenly distributed. Add spices: a lot of garlic powder (like, 2 tea spoons, maybe; possibly more), and a lot of onion powder (like a tablespoon? more?), more black pepper than you think you need (uhh, a 1/4 to 1/2 of a teaspoon perhaps?) and I also used crumbled dry basil (probably something like 20 leaves). You could use fresh basil too, but you'd want to slice that up, and i think basil is supposed to be more aromatic when it's fresh, so you maybe wouldn't need as much. Mix your spices in, and watch the pot with half an eye, in case you need to add more liquid as it simmers. You could add more soup stock, or water, as your prefer. If you add more liquid, you may need to stir this in too so that it's evenly distributed.
Meanwhile, slice up whatever stuff you're adding to your risotto. I've done it with red and yellow peppers and with mushrooms, variously, but I think i've got a preference for peppers. Someday I may work my way up to adding meat.
Then, heat butter in a separate pan (so that everything tastes like butter instead of a weird mix of cooking oils). Dump your veggies in the pan along with whatever spices you used in the risotto and panfry while stirring frequently. When they're mostly done, maybe a bit brown on the edges, dump them into your risotto, and stir everything gently in. Taste, and add additional spices as necessary, and let it simmer for a bit more until your veggies, etc are all the way done (level of crispness up to you!).
Serve and eat!
other things:
♥ You can also add white wine as part of your liquid if you want. You could also probably add cheese (I'd suggest something like parmesan, which is grated very finely, and easy to incorporate.
♥ If you're really lazy, you could probably cook everything in the bottom of your pot before adding more butter and the rice and liquid. I am really lazy, but I tend to mess up the timing of things when I cook them all in one pot like this, so I've always used a pot and a pan.
♥ while i've never tried it, I bet you could do this with brown rice too. Probably by adding more water.
put about 1/3 a stick of butter in the bottom of a pot with a little bit of chicken or vegetable stock. melt on medium high heat.
I'm lazy, so I'm almost always guaranteed to use garlic powder and onion powder instead of actual garlic and onion but if you wanted to use the real stuff instead, this is when you'd add the onion and garlic (sliced and minced, respectively) to the bottom of your pot. Then cook on medium high to high heat until the garlic and onion is slightly brown/translucent before adding more soup stock and your leftover rice.
If you're lazy like me, then just add leftover rice and enough soup stock to completely cover it to the pot. Stir gently so that the butter at the bottom gets evenly distributed. Add spices: a lot of garlic powder (like, 2 tea spoons, maybe; possibly more), and a lot of onion powder (like a tablespoon? more?), more black pepper than you think you need (uhh, a 1/4 to 1/2 of a teaspoon perhaps?) and I also used crumbled dry basil (probably something like 20 leaves). You could use fresh basil too, but you'd want to slice that up, and i think basil is supposed to be more aromatic when it's fresh, so you maybe wouldn't need as much. Mix your spices in, and watch the pot with half an eye, in case you need to add more liquid as it simmers. You could add more soup stock, or water, as your prefer. If you add more liquid, you may need to stir this in too so that it's evenly distributed.
Meanwhile, slice up whatever stuff you're adding to your risotto. I've done it with red and yellow peppers and with mushrooms, variously, but I think i've got a preference for peppers. Someday I may work my way up to adding meat.
Then, heat butter in a separate pan (so that everything tastes like butter instead of a weird mix of cooking oils). Dump your veggies in the pan along with whatever spices you used in the risotto and panfry while stirring frequently. When they're mostly done, maybe a bit brown on the edges, dump them into your risotto, and stir everything gently in. Taste, and add additional spices as necessary, and let it simmer for a bit more until your veggies, etc are all the way done (level of crispness up to you!).
Serve and eat!
other things:
♥ You can also add white wine as part of your liquid if you want. You could also probably add cheese (I'd suggest something like parmesan, which is grated very finely, and easy to incorporate.
♥ If you're really lazy, you could probably cook everything in the bottom of your pot before adding more butter and the rice and liquid. I am really lazy, but I tend to mess up the timing of things when I cook them all in one pot like this, so I've always used a pot and a pan.
♥ while i've never tried it, I bet you could do this with brown rice too. Probably by adding more water.