Fake Risotto

By Adventures of a Labor Nurse on February 1, 2014 • ( 0 )

I have a great ‘real’ risotto recipe that is a pain to make, because it requires standing over the stove for 35 minutes, stirring rice. I think this one is just as good.

Ingredients:

1 cup of long-grain rice, I use Texmati (that’s rice, I don’t even use risotto rice!)
2 cups of chicken stock (if you don’t have chicken stock, water will work fine)
1 cup of cheese (you can use white or yellow cheddar, parmesan, or gruyere. I use whatever I have on hand, but usually use a combination of yellow cheddar and gruyere).
1/2 cup water
4 tbls of butter
1/2 of a brown gravy packet
1 cup chopped mushrooms
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons of butter
1 shallot, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped (and if I feel lazy, I just smash a garlic clove and then fish it out later)

Directions

Add rice and chicken stock to rice cooker, and cook like normal.
In a large sauté pan, add butter, mushrooms, and shallot and cook over medium-high heat for 5 minutes.
Add 1/2 cup of dry white wine and chopped garlic and cook for 15 minutes.
Pour in 1 cup cream and lower eat to medium-low.
Add cheese and combine.
In a small cup or dish, add 1/2 of gravy packet with 1/2 cup of water and mix well. Add mixture to cheese sauce and stir.
Add finished cooked rice to mixture.
Stir until hot. Season to taste with kosher salt.

Note

The rice should look wet. If it looks too dry, just add more cream and stir until hot.
I also make this with chicken. I cut chicken tenders into chunks and cook on the stove until white on all sides. Then I add the wine and veggies and start the recipe from there.