TGIF... so goes the saying. I wholeheartedly believe in this. The kitchen's always the place to be - either dreaming up new recipes or throwing away the spoils of summer.
This evening we decided to make risotto to complement the excellent baguette the wife had made the day before. Its been a while since I've come back to risotto. The earlier attempts were desperately trying to get the flavouring ans stock right. This time there was more time to contemplate what needed to go into the dish.
Started out with boiling half a pumpkin which I thought would give it a good orange hue with a hint of sweetness. Turns out the pumpkin lost almost all its colour and hardly had any taste left. Combined a chunk of this with some freshly dried tomato (last batch before the rains here) and gave it a quick whisk in the blender.
I've got a packet of Italian arborio sitting up in the pantry waiting to be used, but didn't want to use that precious cargo before I got my recipe right. I chose the highly versatile short grained (idly) rice that is a perennial in any South Indian home.
A dash of garlic in a little olive oil with the pumpkin-tomato puree and half a cup of rice got things started. Stock was replaced with plain hot water, poured a cup at a time every 6-7mts until i was able to completely cook the rice. An addition of some agri parmegiano grand padano completed the pot.
The dish was served with home made baguettes and fresh butter. Lovely taste with the tomato giving it a beauiful yellowish-brown color. Next time the original arborio comes out with some mushroom and parsley.
I must admit this, Raol. Italian is my least favourite cuisine - in fact I have a huge bias against it. But your recipes tempt me to try them out. As in, to cook them myself and not to try them at a restaurant :-)
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