Risotto

One of the best things about our slow growth and pasture raised chickens is making broth. If you haven't ever tried making broth with our chicken stockbones, you probably think I am crazy, but I can't tell you how much a difference it makes in recipes like this.

This recipe is for a basic risotto, so that means you pick to add a foundation flavor or not. We love it with mushrooms, but really anything goes.

Base Ingredients:

• About 6 cups of broth (or water if you must)
• Coconut oil or butter
• 2 yellow onions, diced
• 2 cups of a shorter grain rice, such as Arborio or carnaroli
• 1 cup of dry white wine
• Sea salt

Optional Flavor Ingredients:

• Foundation flavors: Saffron infused broth (soak a pinch of saffron in a warm cup of broth), 28-oz of pureed tomatoes, 1+ cup of rehydrated dried mushrooms, chopped sun-dried tomatoes, etc
• Meat or veggies: 1 or 2 cooked veggies (asparagus, peas, root veggies, broccoli, etc), cooked meat (shredded pork, chicken), or raw seafood (shrimp, scallops)
• Herbs or finishing ingredient: basil, parsley, mint, scallions, lemon zest, balsamic vinegar.

Instructions

1. Melt 3/4 stick of butter or about 1/3 cup of coconut oil in a heavy a heavy, large saute' pan or stockpot over medium heat.
2. Add onions to the pan and stir frequently enough to avoid burning. Wait until they are nice golden brown. You can have the heat higher to make this dish faster if you monitor the onions well, or lower if you have time and don't want to fuss with stirring all the time. If you don't want the sweet caramelized onion flavor or don't want to spend as long cooking, I'd only use one onion and then cook until soft.
3. Add the rice and stir with onions for a few min. You want to toast the rice, but not brown it.
4. Add the wine and stir until mostly absorbed
5. Add in any foundation flavors and include any soaking liquid if applicable (mushrooms)
6. Add about 2 cups of broth and stir until mostly absorbed. You want it dry enough so the bottom of the pan is exposed after stirring, but not so dry the rice sticks. Make sure to stir frequently enough so none of the rice dries out and sticks to the bottom.
7. Continue adding the broth in about 1 cup increments and stirring as described above. If you want to add in veggies or meat, do so after about 4 or 5 total cups liquid were used.
8. Continue to add broth until the rice is fully cooked, but still just al dente when tested. It shouldn't be mushy, you want a bit of bite to it -- but not crunchy.
9. Salt to taste
10. Remove from heat when the texture is how you'd like it and add any olive oil, butter or other finishing ingredient of your choice.