Mushroom and Spinach Risotto

Well it has certainly been awhile since I've last posted. It's funny how I can do nothing but sit on the couch watching television and reading books for the past two weeks and still rarely find time to write a new post. I have brought new meaning to the term laziness. And now I am staring at our Christmas tree, still sitting in the living room, reminding me that one of these days I need to take off all the ornaments and candy canes and garland and Christmas lights and put it away. But the problem is, that means Christmas is officially over, and I don't think I am quite ready for THAT yet. I'm in my own little world, so if I want to pretend it's still Christmas, I will!

Luckily, despite my excessive laziness, I have still found time to cook and bake nearly every day. Of course! And I finally was brave enough to tackle one of my favorite dishes...risotto! And yes...it did take a ridiculously long time, but it was so creamy and amazing that it was definitely worth all the patience. (And trust me..you will need a lot of patience once you start to see how creamy and delicious it begins to look!) So if you have time to make a gourmet meal for your family (or even just for yourself..no shame. and it actually reheated quite well the next day) it's actually really simple! And feel free to tinker with it and add whatever veggies, wine or cheese that floats your boat!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 2-3 cups sliced mushrooms
• 3 cups baby spinach
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, minced or diced very small
• 1 cup arborio rice
• 1/2-1 cup Sherry (or any wine of choice)
• 4 cup container of chicken stock
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 2 tsp dried basil
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese (or cheese of choice)

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat 1 Tbsp of olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add sliced mushrooms and sautee until tender. Add spinach and stir until spinach has wilted. Remove from heat and set veggie mixture aside in a bowl.

2. Add 4 cups of chicken stock to that saucepan and bring up to a boil. Once it is boiling reduce heat to very low and cover just to keep warm while you cook the rice.

3. In another saucepan heat up 1 Tbsp of olive oil and melt 1 Tbsp of butter over medium heat. Add diced garlic and saute for about 30 seconds. Add in arborio rice, coat with butter/oil mixture and let toast for about 2 minutes. Add wine and reduce heat to medium-low. Let simmer while occasionally stirring until the rice has absorbed the wine.

4. After rice has absorbed most of the wine, begin adding the hot chicken stock to the rice 1/2 cup at a time. Stir occasionally and allow rice to absorb must of the stock before adding another 1/2 cup. (This takes time..about 20-30 minutes..so you have to be patient. It will be about 3-5 minutes between each addition. This slow cooking process it was gives risotto its amazing creaminess. You may not need to use all the stock, just keep going with this process until the rice is tender enough to your liking. You can also add a little more than 1/2 cup at a time if you want to speed things up, but I would recommend 1/2 cup)

5. Once rice has reached desired tenderness, stir the mushroom/spinach mixture into the rice. Add a Tbsp of butter and stir until it has melted. Stir in basil and parmesan cheese until cheese is melted and veggie mixture has heated through. After plating, sprinkle some parmesan cheese on top and serve.

Now doesn't that look delicious! Trust me..it is. Enjoy!

CLICK HERE for the printable version of the recipe.

One Week Until Christmas!

Happy Sunday! Now I would usually be too distracted with football to post right now, but the Giants are sucking it up big time, so I need something to distract me from this depressing, pathetic excuse for a game on my TV. And what better way than to talk about food?? Italian food nonetheless!

For dinner in NYC we went to Pietrasanta, on 9th and 47th thanks to the recommendation of my friend Vic. And let me tell you, we weren't disappointed! Food was very fairly priced...between $16 and $20 an entree. We started out with some yummy Italian bread and a delicious tomato basil hummus.

For our entrees, I ordered the Mushroom and Asparagus Risotto. Now, I have never had a risotto that I didn't love, but I wasn't really impressed with this one. It wasn't quite creamy enough for me and there was something, perhaps the Pecorino Cheese, that gave it an odd, almost bitter, taste. There were, however, giant pieces of mushroom which really impressed me. 

Delaney settled on the Fettuccine di Spinaci con Melanzane. This was very delicious, but it didn't have any roasted eggplant in it as promised in the description, but was still very tasty.

And what I thought was the most delicious entree...the Gnocchi Torrese. Oh my goodness I can't even describe how good this was! I was so jealous that I didn't order it, but luckily Vic let me have a bite...or four. The gnocchi itself was so soft and creamy and just overall amazing!

Then, even though our stomachs could not possibly fit another bite, Vic convinced us that their chocolate mousse would be worth any puking that it may later cause. And that was all the convincing we needed. And again, it definitely did not disappoint!

Just look at it...it tasted as good as it looks. Enough said. And trust me, I am very picky about my chocolate mousse, and this was close to perfect. Bravo Pietrasanta, Bravo!

From here, we took a long walk up to Columbus Circle and around Central Park in a pointless attempt to work off some of that food. Then we kind of ran out of stuff to do. I know what you're thinking...in New York City? But we were too cheap to go see a show and none of the movies were playing at good times. So naturally, we went back to Times Square to take more ridiculous pictures, but this time...at night!

Have a great rest of your weekend! And Giants...GET IT TOGETHER!