Stock In Action - January 11, 2014

So last week, my biggest cooking success was a fridge and freezer full of delicious chicken broth made in my crockpot.  I decided to build on what worked and make risotto. Risotto is one of those things that my husband and I never make at home, but when we do, we both look at each other and say, "Why don't we make this more often?"  This was definitely one of those cases.  We usually make seafood or saffron risotto, but I decided to check what we had and see if we could use the risotto to make use of more than just the chicken broth.  A search of the fridge and freezer resulted in about a cup of sweet corn frozen back in the summer, a cup of shredded Monterey Jack cheese leftover from Christmas strata making and an open jar or roasted red peppers.  I then found three recipes from my box of family recipes, Cooking Light and the side of the risotto box and created the following:

Sweet corn, roasted pepper risotto

5 c. chicken broth

1/2 c. white wine

2 tsp. olive oil

1 c. Arborio rice

1 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. coriander

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 c. chopped green onions

¾ c. shredded Monterey Jack cheese

½ tsp. tobasco sauce

2 c. corn, cut from cob

¾ c. chopped roasted red peppers

Salt and pepper to taste

Place broth in pan and warm on stovetop (do not boil).  Keep warm through cooking.  Heat oil in saucepan over med-high.  Add rice, cumin, coriander and garlic and sauté 1 minute. Stir in wine and cook while stirring until absorbed.  Then, start adding broth ½ c. at a time stirring each time until absorbed and adding more.  Continue until all broth used.  Stir in the onions, cheese, hot sauce, corn and peppers while a bit soupy and cook 3 minutes until heated and correct consistency.  Salt and pepper to taste. 

While I was at it, I decided to make great use of one more thing in our pantry.  This Summer, I made butternut squash augre-doux (see previous blog).  It was put away in lovely pint jars.  I dumped a jar into a pan and heated.  Then, I added a tablespoon of butter and a bit of salt and simmered until the liquid in the jar thickened around squash. Before serving, I added a bit a nutmeg.  It had this fabulous savory sweet Winter taste.  It would make a great Thanksgiving side.

One Year Ago - Chicken Peanut Stew