Being back home for winter break was wonderful; I missed my family so much during the previous semester. Since my dad is such a wonderful chef, I took the opportunity to learn a few new recipes while I was back. This dish requires frequent attention to create, but is well worth it! The recipe I'm posting is enough to serve several people, so you may want to halve it.
You will need:
*olive oil
*1 and 1/2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
*2 shallots
*2 cups of risotto
*7-8 cups of vegetable broth
*1/4 to 1/2 cup of white wine
*1/2 cup of freshly-grated parmesan cheese
For the vegetable broth, we used a Better Than Bouillon vegetarian base (there are several that you could choose from) and followed the instructions for how much boiling water to add to dilute it properly. Put your vegetable broth in a pot to warm on the stove. You will be using it slowly throughout this process.
Next add the butter and some olive oil to a shallow but wide pan.
While those are heating up, finely dice two shallots and then add them to the shallow pan containing the butter. Mixing frequently, heat the shallots until they become nearly transparent.
After the shallots are done, add the risotto. Stir and mix in well. Next, add between 1/4 and 1/2 cup of white wine. (The kind we used was an Alois Lageder Pinot Grigio.) Continue stirring constantly until the moisture is almost gone from the dish. Then you'll want to add enough of the vegetable broth to just cover the risotto.
Once the moisture from the broth is nearly gone, you will want to repeat the process of adding more to cover the risotto. This process should take about 45 minutes; you will need to be stirring constantly during this time. Once it becomes difficult for the risotto to keep absorbing more broth, you are done! This should happen after using about 7 or 8 cups of the broth.
Finally, stir the parmesan into the risotto. You are done and it is ready to serve!
Note: If this dish is too rich for you, you could dilute the broth more than specified and/or use less parmesan cheese. Try serving with green beans or other veggies on the side!
