Strawberry Risotto

Summer time brings friends and time to cook something special. So today is a break from the numbers. When our family went on a Disney Cruise last year we had some weird but delicious strawberry risotto (if anyone at Disney sees this blog please send me the recipe; I still haven't got it right).

The Blog that Ate Manhattan and her readers helped me find a couple of recipes to replicate it so I've tried them out. The final recipe is based on one at theepicentre.com which used a vegetable broth (rather than chicken) and a port wine.

I tried the recipe as written and found it lacked flavour and looked darker than what I remembered from the cruise. So I modified things a little and tried it again. The second time it was still a little more brown than I remember but otherwise pretty close. There is just a hint of sweetness to the mixture. Butter, onion, strawberry and champagne is more aromatic than one would think. Please give it a try and post more suggestions to the comments section.

Ian's Strawberry Risotto

Makes 2-3 servings depending on how much you want to exercise the next day

Total time: 30min

2 1/2 cups vegetable broth (low sodium)

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 onion finally chopped

1/4 cup chopped strawberries (2 large strawberries) hulled & washed

3/4 cup Fine Arborio rice

1/2 cup Rose Champagne

2 tablespoons Parmesan

A good bottle of red wine (go slow; risotto is a labour of love)

Bring vegetable broth to simmer - the amount used will depend on how you like the risotto cooked. I like mine al dente so it was closer to 2 cups of broth.

Stir Continuously; your arm should hurt at the end of this

• Over medium heat;
• Have a sip of red wine
• Add butter to large saucepan and melt;
• Add onion and saute until glassy (1-2 min) careful not to brown
• Have a sip of red wine
• Add strawberries and cook until they loose their colour and give up their juices (1 min)
• Add rice and coat with mixture (2-4 min - don't rush this step it 'seals' the rice)
• Have a sip of red wine
• Add champagne 1/4 cup at a time until liquid is soaked up by rice
• Add simmering vegetable broth 1/2 cup at a time. When you add the broth allow it absorb into the rice completely. As the mixture become sticky add another 1/2 cup at a time.
• Have many sips of red wine
• As you get to the end of the broth taste the rice. It should be al dente (firm, chewy but not crunchy). It's amazing how much broth Arborio will absorb so don't be shy.
• Add Parmesan a pinch at a time, fold in and taste - the Parmesan cuts the sweetness so use it sparingly.

Serve with Parmesan on the side with whatever remains of your red wine. It still looked more brown (due to vegetable broth) than I remember but it tasted great. I hope everyone enjoys it.