Baked Mushroom Risotto – Why Stir When You Can Stare at an Oven?
I was playing around with a baked paella recipe, and began wondering what would happen if I used a similar method for doing risotto. As you’ll see, the beginning and the end of the recipe are pretty standard, but we’ve taken the middle 15 minutes and moved it into the oven, in an attempt to eliminate those dreaded “variables.”
The size, shape, and thickness of your pan, how fast you add the liquid, and how high your heat is are factors that can wildly affect the outcome when done on the stovetop. By using the oven for the majority of the cooking, we don’t have as many things to worry about.
Of course, you still need to finish this thing off yourself, and taste and test for doneness and seasoning, but that goes for any recipe. The goal is to have the rice come out of the oven between 80-90% cooked, so that all it takes is a final addition of liquid, and a few minutes of stirring to recreate that signature “sauce” that makes this dish so famous.
If you end up using Arborio rice, the most popular variety sold for risotto, I’d suggest checking this after 10 minutes in the oven, as I suspect it will cook slightly quicker than the Carnaroli. Besides, you can always cook it an extra few minutes at the end. As many of us have learned the hard way, you can’t un-cook something.
Besides being easier and more repeatable, this method produced a risotto that was identical in looks, taste, and texture to anything I can do on the stove. Having said that, I enjoy standing at the stove making risotto the traditional way, as it’s one of the best meditations ever, so it will be interesting to see which method I use the next time I’m craving the dish.
Anyway, whether you’ve always been afraid to try risotto, or you’ve mastered it and are just curious, I hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!
Ingredients for 4 portions:
3 tbsp butter
3 cups diced mushrooms
1/2 yellow onion, diced
salt and pepper to taste
cayenne to taste
1 cup Carnaroli or Arborio rice
2 1/2 cups chicken broth, plus more if desired
1/2 cup cream, plus a few tablespoons to finish
1/2 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (don’t use that fake crap)
Sausage and Gnocchi with Red Pepper-Almond Sauce in Just 20 Minutes
After a long day with my 3 year old and an exhausting trip to the grocery store, the only thing keeping me from ordering takeout was a simple dinner with 8 ingredients and plenty of inactive cook time.
Click here for Recipe»
Taking a Break
I was playing around with some pulled sugar for an upcoming dessert video, and it reminded me just how much I dislike those ever-popular, themed cake battles on the food networks. In case you've never seen one, I thought I'd take a little break and describe what happens...in every episode: "Contestants, please make a cake that looks like a working Victorian merry-go-round... if his pulled sugar breaks, the entire design will collapse... he's almost to the judge's table... it's starting to wobble... [BEEP]... well, that's a real shame."
Baked Lemon Pepper Salmon – Sometimes Cooking’s Not Pretty
Such is cooking. Live, learn, and occasionally eat too tart and peppery salmon. Anyway, every time we’d post one of our broiled salmon recipes, I’d get emails from people without broilers asking how they can get the same results, so I figured my little trial by acid would make for a good excuse to show how easy baked salmon is.
As long as you get your oven nice and hot, and aren’t afraid to poke the fish with a fork to check, you should be enjoying tender, moist, flaky meat every time. You can always cook it more, so check after 10 minutes and go from there. If you test in the filet's natural seams, the evidence of your breaking and entering will hardly be noticeable, and easily covered by a sauce or slice of lemon.
If you use my recipe, you may want to adjust the pepper and acidity of the lemon with something on the sweet side. Pretty much any kind of glaze or marinade will work with this easy technique, and many of them (most of them) will look better than this. I hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!
Ingredients for 2:
two 8-10 oz center-cut salmon filets, boned, skin on
two 8-10 oz center-cut salmon filets, boned, skin on
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp black pepper
1 tsp miso paste
2 tsp mustard
1 1/2 tbsp mayo
cayenne to taste
salt to taste
*Next time I’ll add some Hoisin sauce or something sweet to balance the flavors better.
Bake at 450 degrees F. 10-15 min or until done.
View the complete recipe
Bake at 450 degrees F. 10-15 min or until done.
View the complete recipe
Cast Iron Balsamic Steak with Polenta and Roasted Tomatoes in Just 30 Minutes
Are you a steak lover? Chad certainly is, but the only way I have been able to achieve that much desired steakhouse flavor has been with a grill, until now. I have even been craving steak lately. So, I decided to put together a dinner that could rival our favorite steakhouse.
Click here for Recipe»
30Minutes
,
Beef
,
Sides
,
Tomatoes
,
TSRISummer
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