New Recipe Review- Garden Risotto

Risotto is a treat I enjoy in restaurants, but never thought I would be able to make myself. You know, one of those things that just sounded too complicated to even bother. But when I received my May issue of Cooking Light and there was a whole section on risotto, and I was inspired to say the least. I ended up not making any of the recipes in that magazine, but I found one on FoodNetwork.com that sounded perfect for beginners ... OK, fine, it used stuff up that was in our fridge! Here is the recipe I used for my first attempt at risotto.

I followed the recipe to a tee, I was too hesitant to make any changes to something I've never made before. The only changes I made were to go completely overboard on the veggies (nothing wrong with that, IMO!)

Look at all those fresh ingredients!!

Sautéing some onions

Adding the rice.

Homemade chicken broth simmering away in the skillet

Don't stop stirring! I'll call this an action shot.

Um, I may have gone overboard on the veggies. Is there such thing?

And topped with fresh grated Parmesean Reggiano cheese. Yum!

The risotto part of it turned out awesome, I was so proud of myself! I felt that the rest of the recipe actually ended up being a little bland though. All the vegetables kind of had the same flavor, I felt like it needed more acid- tomatoes or lemon or something.

I served it with a salad of spring greens, grapes, goat cheese, and vinaigrette; and Fetzer Riesling- which was very good and only $8. Kind of tasted like sparkling cider, which is a good thing IMO!

(image from BevMo.com)