Chase vs. Food (tackling the beast that is risotto)

For our last dinner of summer 2010, we decided to go all out and try something that intimidated me: risotto. And since it was a special meal, we decided to make lobster risotto. I've only ever tried to make this delicious rice dish once before, and it turned out hard, gummy, and inedible! I've only been defeated by a few dishes (pad thai and hollandaise are yet to be conquered), and risotto was definitely one of them. With a little help from Giada and a lot of time, Ryan and I tackled risotto. It turned out to be pretty easy to make (the hardest part is the constantly stirring and adding of the liquid) and absolutely delicious to eat!

For the lobster:

Add two lobster tails (if frozen, make sure they have thawed completely) to a pot of boiling, salted water. Once lobster is added, turn heat down to medium-high. Boil for 6-8 minutes until tails curl and meat is white. Take tails out of water and let rest until cool enough to handle. Take the meat out of the shell (I wish I had some bright insight to share with you on a easy way to do this, but it actually was one of the more difficult things about this meal!). Once all the meat is removed, put the shells in a sauce pot.

For the stock:

We totally cheated and used store-bought chicken stock. To add a little extra flavor, we added the previously mentioned lobster shells to the stock. For the stock itself, add 5 cups to the sauce pan and turn on medium heat until warmed and then turned heat down to low. Add a couple sprigs of fresh thyme to sauce pan. Once stock is warm, you're ready to add it to your rice.

For the risotto:

Finely dice 1 large onion or 2 small onions (I used yellow onion). Meanwhile, add 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter to a medium-heat pot. Once butter has foamed and starts to brown, add onions. Stir for 1 minute and add 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon cracked pepper. Stir for about 5 minutes or until onions are starting to carmelize. Add 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme. Now you're ready to add the rice; add 1 1/2 cup of arborio rice. Stir to mix in with butter and onions for about 3 minutes. Next add 1/2 cup marsala wine. Cook wine until almost completely reduced. Now you're ready for the tedious part of risotto. Start adding the chicken stock, 1/2 cup at a time and stir until moisture is reduced. Keep adding stock, stirring, and checking moisture level until rice is cooked (for us, we ending up adding 1/2 cup of stock about every 3 minutes until we added almost all of the stock, it took about 25 minutes total). The important part is to constantly stir and keep an eye on the liquid level. We kept tasting it to check if the rice was done. It's a fine line between crunchy rice and completely over-cooked rice.

Final Steps:

Once risotto is cooked, turn the heat off the pan but leave on the same burner. Add 1 tablespoon of butter, 1/4 cup of minced chives, 1/4 cup of minced parsley, and 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese. Stir to combine. Place a couple of spoonfuls on a plate and top with lobster meat. Enjoy!!

I was really nervous about making this dish, but I feel confident enough to try again and play with the ingredients. It was fun to make, especially because Ryan and I made it together with Sadie at our feet.