Tonight was cold, and I had done a lot of walking, so I was tired. Sounds like the perfect time to make risotto, right? WRONG.
You see, I don't know if you've made risotto before, but it's not the kind of thing that you want to make when you're absolutely starving. It can't really be rushed, as the rice can only absorb so much so fast.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Anyway, tonight's dinner started out with me wanting to clean out whatever food I have in my pantry. This is how most of my creative adventures start out. I also wanted to use up the last of my dine-in-dollars. If you're a UT student, you know that those are the dollars you are forced to buy as a student living on campus. As this is my first semester living off campus, they are making me use up any of the last dollars I have in a semester. I had $500 left from last semester, and I am down to $10.
Progress!
The store on campus sells brie usually, so I thought that a brie risotto would be lovely, as I had rice. Unfortunately, the store was out of brie. Of course. So, I regrouped and grabbed some cream cheese and got out of there, stomach grumbling all the way.
If there are two things every person should always have on hand, it's cream cheese and plain Greek yogurt. Seriously, those are the most versatile items in the world. Please excuse my preachy moment, it's just how I feel. Cream cheese and plain Greek yogurt are to me as baking soda and vinegar are to Heloise.
So with cream cheese in hand, I went back to my apartment to figure out what I could do.
Turns out, armed with chicken broth and rice, you can basically do whatever you want from there. To use a cliche, it's a blank canvas. Just so long as it doesn't turn out as a bland canvas, we're good.
I ended up using this recipe as my inspiration. And by inspiration, I really mean that my recipe and this recipe both have rice and chicken broth. That's about where the similarities end.
My recipe was as follows:
3 Hearty Servings
3 Cloves of garlic
3 tbsp Olive Oil
1 White Onion
3/4 cup Dry Arborio Rice
1/2 Cup Chicken Broth (Reduced Sodium)
1 Can of Cream of Mushroom
3 Roma Tomatoes, cut in whatever way you like to eat them (I diced)
1.5 oz Cream Cheese
Add olive oil, garlic, and onions to pan. Let cook over medium heat for a bit until the onions turn brown. This is maybe about 15 minutes depending on your definition of "medium."
Add in the rice, stir around to coat in the moisture. Let it cook for about 5 minutes.
Add in the chicken broth, and allow it to be absorbed before continuing further.
Add just a little bit of the cream of mushroom soup at a time, supplementing with about the same amount of water as your addition. (So if you add about a 1/4 of a cup of cream of mushroom, add about a 1/4 of a cup of water). Stir intermittently throughout this addition period. Do not add anymore until the previous addition is all absorbed.
When the can is all used, add in the tomatoes and the cream cheese. Stir until combined. You're finished!
I garnished mine with some cut up almonds, just because I like to have some crunch in there, as well as the added protein. But garnish however you see fit.
If you make this recipe, let me know how it turns out! It's pretty rich and fantastic for a cold day. Risotto really sticks to the ribs, which makes it especially satisfying.
Below are the nutrition facts.
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