Risotto with Brown Rice, An Adventure
Sometimes I am accused of not wanting anything to change. It’s true that I like consistency; when I live in a neighborhood I like to have a place where I go and everyone knows me and I get more or less the same thing and I know what to expect. It’s the reason I drink Starbucks coffee, especially when I’m traveling: I have a pretty good chance at a decent espresso. I’m not guaranteed anything, and at its best, it won’t be stellar, but it will probably be ok. When you’re on the road, that’s often enough.
Sometimes, though, I thrive on the exotic. Sometimes, I look death in the face and jump into the wind on my vine. Sometimes- after being assured by my friend that he had short-grain rice in the house- I will even do something so unbelievable as make risotto with brown rice.
Cheese Rind and Onion Stock and Risotto
This is where I’m supposed to tell you all about its pitfalls and the wheres, hows and whys of white and brown rice. Well, brown rice is rice that has either been polished less than white, or left unpolished, leaving its natural patina intact. It takes longer than [usual]( http://omnivorousfish.com/node/105) to make risotto with it, but what can I say? It was great. And let’s not forget the most basic principle of risotto: let’s use up what’s in the fridge.
**Risotto of Brown Rice with Swiss Chard**
Serves 2-3, increases exponentially without a problem
3 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons peanut oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 cup short-grain brown rice
1-1/2 cups dry white wine
3 cups (or more) stock, water or other flavorful liquid (dried mushroom soaking liquid, cheese rinds (not wax ones) simmered in water for a half hour, half-strength bouillon from Knorr brand cubes, water from cooking vegetables, almost anything)
4 cups chopped, cleaned swiss chard with stems and tougher veins removed.
1/4 cup diced ham
2 tsp chopped fresh sage
2/3 cup grated grana padano cheese
2 tbsn butter
1 tbsn chopped parsley
In a saucepan, add half the wine to the stock and bring to a boil. Cook for one minute. Lower heat and keep mixture very hot but just balrely under the simmer. (This is to get rid of unwanted alcohol in the rice.) Keep this pan adjacent to your risotto pan, you will be ladling from one pot to another regularly.
Melt the butter and oil over medium heat in a heavy, nonreactive pot, like copper lined with tin or stainless steel or enameled cast iron. Aluminum may darken the risotto. Add the onion and sweat, stirring frequently. Sweating means to cook without browning, so keep your eye on it, you want to cook the onions until they are just softened. Add the rice and stir well. When the liquid from the onions has evaporated, the rice will begin to brown, stir frequently and listen for the rice to begin to whistle. No, I’m not kidding. When the natural moisture in the endosperm of the rice breaks out it will make a little whistling noise. This means the rice grains are getting in the mood.
After the rice has been whistling for a minute or so, add the remaining 3/4 cup wine all at once. When wine is mostly evaporated, add one cup of stock and adjust heat so that the mixture bubbles excitedly but not vigorously while you stir it. From this point on, the risotto must be stirred regularly, but not constantly. All you people out there stirring your polenta and risotto to raise hell, relax. I wouldn’t lie to you. You can walk away for a minute. But do stir, and stir with a purpose, scraping the bottom and corners to avoid the risotto scorching.
When there is just barely enough stock in the pan to keep all the rice submerged, add another half cup of stock and stir it in, adding stock every few minutes as needed.
In about ten minutes, raise the heat slightly, add the swiss chard and stir it in gently. When it is wilted and incorporated into the risotto, start tasting a grain or two of rice to determine its consistency. Much like pasta, the rice should be neither crunchy nor mushy, and that last little white pearl of starch should remain inside the rice. This is not fluffy white rice with a stir fry, don’t expect it to be. When you feel it getting close add the ham and sage.
This will take from 15-20 minutes, depending on heat, rice and humidity. When you believe it to be thirty seconds from being done, add the cheese and butter and stir thoroughly. Add stock to adjust the consistency to your liking, stir in the parsley and serve immediately. It’s not as urgent as it is with pasta, but don’t wait around. Get everybody sitting down before you add the cheese.
