Parmigiano Saffron Risotto

Add in broth, stir, let rice soak it up, stir. Repeat!

I LOVE risotto - I loved eating it when other people cooked it! For some reason I was always intimidated to cook it myself, but I forced myself to do it when I decided to make Osso Buco. Cooking risotto is not nearly as scary or difficult as I imagined, you just need to pay close attention to it and stir constantly. Well here is my cheesy, creamy version of it... Apologies for the limited photos - I was very caught up with making the risotto, I got a bit carried away and forgot to snap some action shots!

Ingredients: Serves 4

• 8 cups chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 garlic clove, diced
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 2 cups Arborio rice
• 3-4 pinches saffron threads
• 1/2 cup Parmigiano cheese, grated
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:
In a saucepan, bring chicken broth to a simmer add in saffron threads. Keep warm over low heat.

In a large saute pan, melt butter over medium heat and add in olive oil. Add in onion and garlic and cook until translucent. Add rice and cook for 2 minutes, stirring to coat each grain. When rice begins to make a crackling sound, add 1 ladle of the warm chicken broth and stir until the rice has absorbed the liquid. Add remaining broth, ladle at a time. Continue to stir, allowing the rice to absorb each addition of broth before adding more. Add in salt and cracked black pepper to taste. (**) Add in grated cheese about half way through cooking. Test the rice to see if it is done, it should be somewhat al dente but creamy.

Serve at once with Osso Buco Milanese.

(**) - Here is where you can get creative. Since I was serving this with Osso Buco, I took some of the Osso Buco meat + sauce and added it to the risotto. But you can make it with ground meat, mushrooms, shrimp, roasted vegetables, etc. Just saute the ingredient with the onion and garlic separately and add into risotto right after you add in all the chicken broth.

Link to Osso Buco Recipe: http://little-italian-lady.blogspot.com/2012/01/osso-buco-milanese.html