Remember the scene in Amélie when she’s on the search for Dominique Bredoteau and the old French brittle man in her building stops her in the hallway and says, “Bretodeau. Not Bredoteau.”
And she’d had it wrong the entire time? Well, every time I make risotto I say out loud to myself, “RISOTEAU” like he does in the movie.
Wasn’t that just the most wonderful story you’ve ever heard?
Okay so risotto. My garden continues to birth tomatoes and zucchini past the point of it being even remotely funny. So, with starch on the heart and lemon on the noggin, I just had had HAD to make risotto or dah. And remember that siiiinful roasted garlic and lemon butter I made? WAYELL, it was divine and perfect and serendipitous and all things hyperbole mixed in this risotto.
Prepare for love.
Grab some arborio rice, stock, an onion, some white wine, zucchini, tomatoes, some of that insaaaane butter (or regular!), cheese and chives. AND A LEMON.
Start by getting your zucchini nice and sautéed. I’m telling you what, the way it sizzled in that lemon garlic butter…oh my wooooooord, y’all.
Then just remove it from the pan and set it aside.
Back in the pan, add your finely diced onion and sauté for a bit, until you see some color. And if you need to add more butter, dew eet. Then add the rice and let it toast in the skillet for a minute or two.
Then you’ll add that wine, which I didn’t photograph because it burns off so fast and I possibly forgot. So okay, what happens with risotto is a lot of ladling. So you’ll bring your stock to a light simmer in a small pot next to the skillet, and ladle over 1/2 cup at a time. See how liquidy this looks? That’s good.
Okay, I added the lemon zest about halfway through the ladling process, which is totes up to you. Add it in the middle, the end, whatevs. See how creamy the risotto is getting? That’s good.
About 30 minutes of ladling and absorbing, your rice should be creamy and decadent. Then you’ll add the remaining butter, your zucchini and tomatoes, and some good fresh lemon juice, like this. And oh, taste it and season with some coarse salt and freshly ground pepper. See how this looks? That’s good.
And of course you add cheese. Which is also good.
Serve her up! I went with little ramekins because I’m pretty much a huge nerd, but you can serve it however ya fancy! See that creamy wonderment? That’s good.
Garnished with chives, so good.
Fresh lemony flavor, creamy rice, pops of garden produce. Yeah, that’s really good.
Risooooteaaaauuuu. Just like in the movie! Sort of.
Bev is going to go watch Amélie now. Okay, again. For more musings, visit her blog Bev Cooks and her Tablespoon profile.
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