I got this incredible recipe from Laura at Fixin’ Supper.
I don’t think I’ve actually made risotto before; I’ve wanted to after seeing a million different TV chefs make their own versions. It is, I must warn you, labor-intensive. You are stirring rice in a stock pot, adding a half a cup of liquid at a time, and stirring and stirring until each batch of liquid is absorbed until you can add the next batch.
But the process — and the use of short-grain arborio rice, which gives up much more starch than its long-grain, never-sticks, perfect-every-time cousin — creates a silky, lip-smacking sauce, and the cooking method also tends to evaporate, and thus concentrate, the flavors of the chicken stock and white wine that you use for your cooking liquid. This particular recipe ups the ante with cream-style corn, Ro-Tel tomatoes and (instead of the parmesan cheese favored in Italian recipes) Kraft Old English cheese spread, the kind that comes in a little jelly jar.
The only comment I would have is that adding the Ro-Tel, corn and wine all at once, as the recipe seems to call for, gave a little too much liquid, and I had to turn the heat up as a result. The next time, I think I may add each one separately and let the mixture tighten up before the next ingredient, just as if each were a separate ladle of chicken stock.
But, man, oh man, this stuff is good.