Food Musings

Creamy and flavorful, this classic Italian rice dish includes a delicious enhancement with colorful peas!

One of my favorite TV chefs to watch on television is Giada De Laurentiis on Food TV.  I enjoyed reading one of her cookbooks; Giada’s Family Dinners, and prepared a great Dirty Risotto from it a few times.  Dirty Risotto is a rice dish with crumbled sausage in it…delish!  I’ll publish that recipe next month.

Now…you might wonder how Giada can cook such yummy looking food and keep her thin figure.  I sure did.  Then I saw her on a TV special and she explained that she doesn’t really eat her food.  Just takes small bites to make sure it tastes good.  Sorry…I just can’t do that.  When I cook, I eat, and I share my meals with family and friends.  I can understand Giada’s point but for me, its part of the enjoyable process for this wonderful activity called cooking.

I also love this Risotto recipe from Giada that I found online.  The mushrooms and peas are a mouth-watering combination. 

My friends Laurie and Patrick were visiting recently with their 2 year old, Jack (what a doll!).     Laurie is vegetarian so I prepared this risotto dish with a sautéed Italian Vegetable.  (The meat eaters also had spicy Italian Sausage.)  After this meal I decided that I could easily become a vegetarian…if I didn’t like meat so much!

 Mushroom Risotto with Peas

Shown with a Vegetable Saute

Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis

6 servings

• 8 cups canned low-salt chicken broth
• 1/2-ounce dried porcini mushrooms
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cups finely chopped onions
• 10 ounces white mushrooms, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 1/2 cups Arborio rice or short-grain white rice
• 2/3 cup dry white wine
• 3/4 cup frozen peas, thawed
• 2/3 cup grated Parmesan
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, optional

Bring the broth to a simmer in a heavy medium saucepan. Add the porcini mushrooms. Set aside until the mushrooms are tender, about 5 minutes. Keep the broth warm over very low heat.

Melt the butter in a heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add olive oil. Add the onions and saute until tender, about 8 minutes. Add the white mushrooms and garlic. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the porcini mushrooms to a cutting board. Finely chop the mushrooms and add to the saucepan. Saute until the mushrooms are tender and the juices evaporate, about 5 minutes. Stir in the rice and let it toast for a few minutes. Add the wine; cook until the liquid is absorbed, stirring often, about 2 minutes. Add 1 cup of hot broth; simmer over medium-low heat until the liquid is absorbed, stirring often, about 3 minutes. Continue to cook until the rice is just tender and the mixture is creamy, adding more broth by cupfuls and stirring often, about 28 minutes (the rice will absorb 6 to 8 cups of broth). Stir in the peas. Mix in the Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.