FFWD: not a risotto
Well, I was warned. It says right there in the recipe that this is not a risotto. And it's not.
This week's FFWD dish was creamy, cheesy, garlicky rice with spinach. It has the same ingredients as your basic risotto - sauteed onions and garlic, slow-cooked rice, and then spinach/cream/cheese stirred in at the end. What I didn't take into consideration was that in this recipe (unlike a risotto) you cook the rice separately from the onion, which means the onions don't cook any further after the initial saute. Now, I don't like raw or lightly-cooked onions. At all. I really, really should have spent some more time caramelizing those onions before completing the dish.
Or, as you would have heard had you been here with me sampling two bites: 'Blecch, blecch, blecch, blecch, blecch.'
Mr Leaven enjoyed his plate, as well as half of mine. I enjoyed my leftover corn soup.
Oh, and it wasn't very pretty, either. Not the recipe's fault - I used some very dark vegetable stock for the rice. And then, in an effort to cook the onions a bit more, I added some red wine (what? it was on the counter!) which really brought out the brown in the dish. Blecch.
As always, the recipe is not posted but you can find it (don't I make you yearn to prepare this meal??) by purchasing this wonderful cookbook!! Dude, many of the recipes are simply perfect.
This week's FFWD dish was creamy, cheesy, garlicky rice with spinach. It has the same ingredients as your basic risotto - sauteed onions and garlic, slow-cooked rice, and then spinach/cream/cheese stirred in at the end. What I didn't take into consideration was that in this recipe (unlike a risotto) you cook the rice separately from the onion, which means the onions don't cook any further after the initial saute. Now, I don't like raw or lightly-cooked onions. At all. I really, really should have spent some more time caramelizing those onions before completing the dish.
Or, as you would have heard had you been here with me sampling two bites: 'Blecch, blecch, blecch, blecch, blecch.'
Mr Leaven enjoyed his plate, as well as half of mine. I enjoyed my leftover corn soup.
Oh, and it wasn't very pretty, either. Not the recipe's fault - I used some very dark vegetable stock for the rice. And then, in an effort to cook the onions a bit more, I added some red wine (what? it was on the counter!) which really brought out the brown in the dish. Blecch.
Check out the posts from people who surely enjoyed this dish more than I here.As always, the recipe is not posted but you can find it (don't I make you yearn to prepare this meal??) by purchasing this wonderful cookbook!! Dude, many of the recipes are simply perfect.
Sorry this wasn't a winner. I'm really picky about caramelizing onions as well.
ReplyDeleteAt least Mr.Leaven enjoyed his plate. Sorry you din not really enjoyed it. For me and my gal ,we both loved it!
ReplyDeleteSo sorry you didn't like this one. But there's always next week's recipe!
ReplyDeleteOh, sorry about that... (I ended up cooking mine "a la risotto" style, so the onions were perfect for us; but I am totally with you about not being a fan of undercooked onions).
ReplyDeleteThat's too bad that the onions weren't cooked enough for you. You'll have to try it again some time and see if properly caramelized onions do the trick.
ReplyDeleteyou know me, I'm a fan of using onion in a dish served the way you like it, or it won't be good. There are some rice dishes that are great with red wine in them, sorry this wasn;t quite right. In pictures, it looks intriguing.
ReplyDelete