It is with a heavy heart that I tell you of our first resounding failure. I've made risotto a handful of times to great effect. The first time I made risotto with Mark and Ben, we all loved it. It came out perfectly. The vegetables we used were broccoli and mushrooms. I decided we would make another risotto that was super mushroom-y because that is Ben's favorite vegetable. However, I made a couple of key mistakes.
The first one was at my local Trader Joe's. I love Trader Joe's because you can find almost everything there. The last couple of times I made risotto, I bought Sauvignon Blanc for the wine element. This time, I wanted to mix it up a little. It was a good idea, but I executed it poorly: I bought Chardonnay. The problem with Charles Shaw Chardonnay is that it is pretty acidic. Too much acidity in a dish is really not good.
Then it was time to cook. First, I burnt the onions by accident. I caught them before they were black, so I decided to just keep cooking. I tasted as I went, and the broth was perfect. But then I made my second mistake: I added a large squeeze of lemon. With that, it pushed the risotto over the edge from just acidic enough to way too acidic. The combination of the acidity of the broth and the overwhelming-ness of parmesan cheese combined to make the risotto a complete failure. Ben described it as tasting like vomit, and after that, we just couldn't eat much more with that image in our minds.
Next time, I'm going to keep it simple and buy Sauvignon Blanc with the philosophy, if it works, don't fix it. But if the onions start to burn again, I will take that extra step and throw out the onion and start again with a second onion. Lesson learned!
I recommend using the risotto recipe from Anne Burrell's "Cook Like a Rock Star" cookbook, which I will not be posting because you should buy the book instead of me plagiarizing my idol Anne Burrell. In all seriousness, I really do recommend buying that book. This recipe for risotto makes it easy for you to add whichever vegetables you want, and it comes out perfectly if you use Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio. I have been halving the recipe when I make it for three or four people because rice expands a LOT. Remember that. One cup of arborio rice is fully enough to feed three small people with plenty of leftovers.
The first one was at my local Trader Joe's. I love Trader Joe's because you can find almost everything there. The last couple of times I made risotto, I bought Sauvignon Blanc for the wine element. This time, I wanted to mix it up a little. It was a good idea, but I executed it poorly: I bought Chardonnay. The problem with Charles Shaw Chardonnay is that it is pretty acidic. Too much acidity in a dish is really not good.
Then it was time to cook. First, I burnt the onions by accident. I caught them before they were black, so I decided to just keep cooking. I tasted as I went, and the broth was perfect. But then I made my second mistake: I added a large squeeze of lemon. With that, it pushed the risotto over the edge from just acidic enough to way too acidic. The combination of the acidity of the broth and the overwhelming-ness of parmesan cheese combined to make the risotto a complete failure. Ben described it as tasting like vomit, and after that, we just couldn't eat much more with that image in our minds.
Next time, I'm going to keep it simple and buy Sauvignon Blanc with the philosophy, if it works, don't fix it. But if the onions start to burn again, I will take that extra step and throw out the onion and start again with a second onion. Lesson learned!
I recommend using the risotto recipe from Anne Burrell's "Cook Like a Rock Star" cookbook, which I will not be posting because you should buy the book instead of me plagiarizing my idol Anne Burrell. In all seriousness, I really do recommend buying that book. This recipe for risotto makes it easy for you to add whichever vegetables you want, and it comes out perfectly if you use Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio. I have been halving the recipe when I make it for three or four people because rice expands a LOT. Remember that. One cup of arborio rice is fully enough to feed three small people with plenty of leftovers.