Risotto

I just sent out a very handy little risotto recipe to someone on Twitter, and I thought I'd put it here in case anyone who likes poetry and graveyards also likes risotto because it is the easiest thing to make ever, and it's quick, and it could save your life one day.  You never know.

Ingredients:

* large knob/extremely large nipple of butter.

* some vegetables (the original recipe says 2 cups, but I have a terrible habit of just ignoring recipes and doing whatever I feel like.. it's just logic really, a reasonable amount of veg so that the ratio of rice to not-rice seems about right)

* 2 cups of rice (arborio rice works best, but if you can't get hold of any you can use pudding rice instead, which is practically the same thing.  I've never tried making it with normal rice, which has a different shape and texture, but it might work...)

* 5 cups of stock (I use veggie Oxo cubes dissolved in water, but I don't know if they exist in the US.. I'm sure there's an equivalent though.  Essentially it just means you can use some kind of stock cube type affair, doesn't have to be all that crazy boiling bones and turnip ends malarky)... if you prefer and have it to hand, you can substitute one cup of stock for a cup of white wine instead.

* cheese, if you so desire.  Cheddar works fine, goes all nice and melty, or feta is also really yummy and retains its shape a bit so you get nice little cheesy lumps.

Method:

1. Melt the butter in a pan (BIG pan, as the rice expands like billio) and add the rice and any uncooked soft vegetables (you can make it with stuff like pumpkin, squash, beetroot, etc., but you need to roast them separately first and add them at the end).  Stir it all about a bit.

2. Add the stock.  All of it.  Stir it a wee bit just so it's all evenly distributed.

3. Put a lid on the pan and simmer it for about 20 minutes.  I tend to check it every now and again and give it a stir just to stop the rice sticking to the bottom.

4. Shove in any pre-cooked/-roasted veg and any cheese.. stir it in, and voila!  Dinner is served.

5. Nom it in your face.  It's nice with salad.

My favourite one that I've made is one I often do around Samhain/Hallowe'en, which has roasted pumpkin (or butternut squash), pumpkin seeds, and feta cheese in it.  Yummy. But the beauty is you can bung anything in... well, within reason, you know.  No wiper blades or cat litter.  Nuts and seeds are nice for a bit of bite, too.

OH, and VERY IMPORTANT is that this recipe, as in the quantities specified, makes absolutely SHITLOADS.  So if you're only making it for two, you can halve the quantities and still have enough for seconds.  You can feed four people VERY decently on this amount, and really you can vary the recipe up or down to suit your requirements - as long as the ratio of stock to rice remains the same, it'll work fine, and you can just stick in however much veg you feel like you want in there.