Monday Morning (and a dinner recipe!)

Despite my best efforts it was after midnight before I got to sleep. I was up around 6:30 and did a few things around the apartment (including dragging the garbage downstairs) and then made my way to work for a 9:30 am training.

Since this is supposed to be mostly a food blog and I'm talking more about shoes lately I thought I'd share my Shrimp Risotto recipe. Plus I had the same old same old breakfast this morning and you're probably sick of that!

This is basically Bon Appetit's recipe with a little Pastor Ryan from Pioneer Woman mixed in.

And then I did my own thing a little too.

Shrimp Risotto - adapted from 2 sources (links above):

Ingredients:

My marinade for shrimp:

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons of melted butter
2 cloves garlic (minced)
1 tablespoon of shallots
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt and Pepper

Just toss the shrimp around in it and let sit.



For the risotto:

5 cups canned low-salt chicken broth
3/4 cup dry white wine
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper

1 pound uncooked large shrimp, peeled, deveined



3/4 cup finely chopped onion (I used shallots)



1 1/2 cups arborio rice

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

First I brought the broth and 1/4 cup wine to simmer in medium saucepan. I reduced heat and tried to keep it hot. The stove at the house we were at on vacation last week sucked nickels. I could only adjust the flame on one of the burners so I turned off the heat entirely and just covered it.



Then I melted 2 tablespoons butter in medium skillet over medium heat. Add 1 teaspoon garlic and crushed red pepper, then shrimp. I sautéed until the shrimp begin to turn pink, about 2 minutes. I added remaining 1/2 cup wine. and simmered until shrimp are just cooked through, about 2 minutes. I put them to the side IMMEDIATELY after they pinked up. I tend to overcook shrimp and am trying to nix that habit.

Make sure you reserve the cooking liquid from the shrimp. It's yummy stuff that you'll need later.





More butter. Get over it. :) This served 6 people with PLENTY leftover. It's not so bad when you think of it that way. I melted the remaining 4 tablespoons butter in big saucepan over medium heat. I added the shallots and remaining garlic. I sautéed until the shallots were translucent which according to Bon Appetit is about 4 minutes.



Then I added the rice and stirred to coat, about 2 minutes. Then it's a lot of stirring while adding 2 cups of broth mixture at a time. Once the liquid was absorbed I added more until all the broth was gone. It should take about 20 minutes. Then I stirred in the reserved shrimp cooking liquid. It took about 5 more minutes for that to absorb and look creamy. Then I took it off the heat, added the shrimp and parsley a bit of salt and pepper and voila.



With some grilled asparagus on the side:



I think it tastes fabulous and for my dad to want me to cook (I drive him insane - he's more classically trained and I use too many pots and make too much of a mess for him) it must really be.

Moral of the story: don't be afraid of risotto. It just takes time, and you just need to serve it right away.

As for all the butter? Completely and totally worth it.