A confession to make, before a few weeks ago both Monique and I had never tasted a risotto, nor prepared one. Nevertheless, now I can check that off my top 1,000 food items/preparations that I still want to prepare/eat. In addition, recent inspiration has come from Hell’s Kitchen, only because Gordon Ramsay has the aspiring chefs to prepare the appetizer for just about every meal dinner service. Monique and I have wanted to make and taste this intriguing dish. Note: Click on images for a larger view.
A few weekends ago we had the pleasure of dining with my office group at Pomodoro Italian restaurant in Durham and Monique and I split an order of Seafood Risotto. It consisted of shrimp, scallops, clams, mussels, and calamari with the rice and saffron. Now while we cannot compare this risotto to any other, due to the simple fact that we had never tasted a risotto before, we had no benchmark to compare. I can say that it was not the best dish in the world, most likely because the rice did not have one strand of saffron, but seemed to have been made with an instant mix similar to the yellow rice packets you find in the grocery. In addition, the seafood was not of the freshest quality, I could tell it was a bit old. In any case, it left Monique and I still wanting to try out a risotto.
Now there is the traditional method of making a risotto and then there are variations, and I am sure many more that I can list, including Risotto all’Aragosta {Lobster Risotto}, recently posted by bell’alimento (Italian for “beautiful food”). So, I decided to make my own risotto and this is what I created.
BMT you say!
Using the Best Ever Three and Four-Ingredient Cookbook as a quick guideline I created my own version of a spicy risotto I’ve name the BMT Risotto, because it contains bacon, mushrooms, and tomato as the main ingredients. By the way, while a new revision of this book is in the works, this cookbook is great if not only for the images, the recipes really seem good too, and it can be bought used for only $8.00.
While this BMT version is most likely not following the exact traditional methods of a formal risotto, it is fairly close. While it may not have the same “sauce” and creamy consistency that a traditional risotto has; it does come packed with flavor. I suppose the Cajun “Jambalaya” spirit in me has some influence in making this risotto my own. Another thing about this risotto is that I am using long grain rice from Cajun country, Ellis Stansel’s from Gueydan, Louisiana. Monique’s aunt Carol Zech, who lives in Lafayette, LA sent us over a two-pound bag of his rice a few months ago in response to a comment that I had made about some wonderful smelling rice that she had cooked at a family reunion and celebrating her 50th wedding anniversary event back in August (08/2009). This was the first time to trying out the rice, and it is a wonderful grain indeed. Additionally, when my parents came to visit us in October (10/2009) my father Joe Boudreaux mentioned that he had worked for Mr. Stansel on his rice farm during his high school days. Gueydan is only a few miles from Morse, Louisiana, where my father grew up on their farm, they grew rice and soybeans also.
| Ingredients | ||
| 2 | Ounces | Black pepper bacon, thick cut, diced |
| ¾ | Cup | Red onions, small diced |
| 1 | Cup | Ellis Stansel’s Rice |
| 2 ½ | Cups | Chicken stock, warm |
| 6 | Ounces | Button mushrooms, sliced |
| ¾ | Cup | Roma tomatoes, diced |
| ½ | Cup | Green onions, diced |
| To taste | Salt and black pepper | |
| Procedure Steps | |
| 1. | In a large sauté pan over a medium high heat cook the diced bacon until browned then add the red onions and continue to sauté until translucent, stirring occasionally. |
| 2. |  Add the rice and stir well to coat with the bacon grease and brown for a few minutes. |
| 3. | Gradually add about 1/3 cup of the chicken stock and stir well to spread it out with the rice, allow the rice to simmer, then as the stock is absorbed into the rice add and stir in another 1/3 cup of the chicken stock and again allow the rice to absorb the liquid. Then repeat again with another 1/3 cup of stock and simmer until all the liquid is absorbed. |
| 4. |  Add the sliced mushrooms, diced tomatoes and half of the green onions and stir well. Then add the remaining chicken stock, stir well cover, and reduce the heat to medium low. Allow the rice to absorb the liquid. Turn off the heat and allow the risotto to sit for 5 minutes or so |
| 5. | Add the remaining green onions and season with salt and black pepper to taste. |
Now, with only 999 food preparations/items still left on the foodie “To Do” list before I die…what can I try next?
The image at the left is the risotto served as a side dish to my dill-crusted salmon with lemon sauce and some steamed fresh spinach, click on the image for a larger view.
21 responses so far ↓
1 Jessie // Dec 18, 2009 at 10:36 am
congrats on your first risotto dish, it came out really tasty too!
2 Dana Max // Dec 18, 2009 at 11:05 am
This looks too delicious! I have to taste it!
3 Noelle (An Opera Singer in the Kitchen) // Dec 18, 2009 at 12:31 pm
This recipe looks fantastic! I have to say I have not cooked risotto either. I will save this recipe for future use. Thanks Chef Ryan!
4 Trix // Dec 18, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Cajun risotto! I think you’ve just hit upon the next big thing. Yum. Copyright that, and quick!
5 Doc // Dec 18, 2009 at 12:47 pm
Kudos Chef!
Risotto is one of my favorite , and I think one of the most versatile dishes. I prepared an order of truffle risotto with Chef Andy (Executive Chef ) at Gordon Ramsay’s Petrus several years ago. One of the besty ever, those guys know their risotto!-and I made the pass:-)
-Doc
6 Paula - bell'alimento // Dec 18, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Great job! It looks so tasty (& love the Christmas plate ; ) ! So happy you decided to dive into the world of Risotto : ) I Just love it! Thanks so much for including the link to my Lobster Risotto!
7 Ryan Boudreaux // Dec 18, 2009 at 2:53 pm
All, thank you so much!
@Trix, now I was wondering if this was something new I was hitting on! Hummm…..
@Doc, that is cool man! Making your dish through the pass is awesome!
@Paula, your lobster risotto was just in time as I was in the draft stages of posting this one, so I just had to reference to it as well.
8 Shelly @ EC Pursuits // Dec 18, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Love it! I love risotto but sometimes the creamy flavor of the traditional ones is so rich that it makes me a bit sick after a few bites. I love the cajun flavor and this idea of a risotto/jambalaya lovechild!
9 ninni // Dec 18, 2009 at 7:00 pm
As half Italian/my father is italian/i cant imagine life without all kinds of risotto.Hope this is only your start and i hope from now you will be a big fun of risotto.Italians tradition dish on weddings is veal risotto or frutti di mare risotto..
10 Kristen // Dec 18, 2009 at 7:29 pm
Risotto is such a versatile food, a few additions and you have a completely different meal!
11 Arlene // Dec 18, 2009 at 7:54 pm
I adore risotto and have made it with quite a variety of ingredients over the years. While the best risotto is the one you stand and stir for 30 minutes, I have a great microwave recipe that tastes very, very good and takes only 20 minutes, with very little attention needed. I like how you spiced up your version. I almost never order risotto out because it is almost never real.
12 pegasuslegend // Dec 18, 2009 at 9:26 pm
Did I mention how this looks incredible enough to eat the picture? wow!
13 Drick // Dec 18, 2009 at 10:06 pm
never a risotto huh? this may be the best one yet (but then I may just like the jambalaya intervention in the recipe) … interesting of the rice, I have a favorite as well as things like grist milled corn flour that I swear by…hey Ryan, wishing you a very Merry Christmas and the best for next year…keep these great post coming our way – we live for them….
14 Conor @ HoldtheBeef // Dec 19, 2009 at 12:11 am
Looks delicious. I’ve had numerous bad risottos in my time, ranging from being far too al dente to far too mushy (sometimes almost like a soup!), and have pretty much given up ordering it when I’m out unless it’s known to be good. Perhaps I’ll just stick to making it at home 🙂
15 Shirley // Dec 19, 2009 at 4:08 am
Chef,
I’d love to have the recipe for the dill crusted salmon, it looks very tempting!
16 penny aka jeroxie // Dec 19, 2009 at 7:45 am
NIce one on the risotto! Looks fab! And I hope you achieve your 1000 dishes!
17 Alta // Dec 20, 2009 at 1:02 am
I love risotto – so comforting and creamy. This is a unique twist – kudos to you for your creativity!
18 LeslieMichele // Dec 21, 2009 at 12:11 am
So glad I stumbled on to your site. Everything looks fantastic! Merry Christmas!
19 Ryan Boudreaux // Dec 21, 2009 at 1:38 pm
@Shirley,
The Dill Crusted Salmon recipe can be found at this URL: http://cajunchefryan.rymocs.com/blog2/food/foodie-weekend-passed/
20 averagebetty // Dec 21, 2009 at 2:40 pm
I love the idea of a little Cajun kick! Cajun-Italian? Too sexy!
21 Savory Tv // Dec 22, 2009 at 2:44 am
I love that you put a Southern spin on it, including vitamin B (bacon!)