My first risotto

Mushroom and Chicken Risotto
Food and Wine Magazine’s Quick From Scratch Chicken Cookbook Copyright 1997, 2001, 2004

2 tablespoons butter
½ pound mushrooms, cut into thin slices
2/3 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 2) cut into ½-inch pieces
1 teaspoon salt
5 ½ cups canned low-sodium chicken broth or homemade stock, more if needed
1 tablespoon cooking oil
½ cup chopped onion
1 ½ cups aborio rice
½ cup dry white wine
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1. In a large pot, heat the butter over moderate heat. Add the mushrooms. Cook, stirring frequently, until the mushrooms are browned, about 5 minutes. Add the chicken, ¼ teaspoon of the salt and the pepper. Cook until the chicken is just done, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the mixture from the pan. In a medium saucepan, bring the broth to a simmer.
2. In a large pot, heat the oil over moderately low heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the rice and stir until it begins to turn opaque, about 2 minutes.
3. Add the wine and the remaining ¾ teaspoon salt to the rice. Cook, stirring frequently, until all the wine has been absorbed. Add about ½ cup of the simmering broth and cook, stirring frequently, until it has been absorbed. The rice and broth should bubble gently; adjust the heat as needed. Continue cooking the rice, adding broth ½ cup at a time, allowing the rice to absorb it before adding the next ½ cup. Cook the rice in this way until tender, 25 to 30 minutes in all. The broth that hasn’t been absorbed should be thickened by the starch from the rice. You may not need to use all the liquid or you may need to add more broth or some water. I used almost all of a large can of chicken broth.
4. Stir in the chicken and mushrooms, the Parmesan, and the parsley and heat through. Serve the risotto with additional Parmesan.

I've never made risotto before and when I thought about it, I realized that I've never eaten risotto before now. How did I miss it? It's been quite popular for years but it's just not served in the fine restaurants my husband and I frequent (Applebee's, TGIF, Red Robin, etc). I wondered beforehand if it was going to be worth the effort and, yes, I think it was worth the effort. Even my two-year old scarfed this down. This is good stuff.

These cookbooks from Food and Wine Magazine are some of my favorites, out of my entire collection. After enjoying the first one (one-dish meals), I went looking for others in this series, in the same bookstore I bought the first one, discounted. Unfortunately the others weren't discounted and I hesitated on paying $14.95 for a cookbook. What do you know? Next time I went to Ollie's Bargain Outlet they had the chicken, pasta and Italian versions for only $3.99 each. I bought the pasta and chicken ones - I guess I wasn't in the mood for Italian that day but I'm going back to look for that one.