Tag Archives: risotto

Faux-tto

Posted on July 8, 2010 | Leave a comment

It’s a faux risotto! It’s summer, it’s too hot outside to be babysitting a real risotto…but having a nice risotto with a glass of wine al fresco just sounds so lovely right about now. What is a hungry hobbit to do? Well…fake it! This tastes rather like a risotto but without all the babysitting and fuss. Yesterday was the hottest day we have had all summer and I found this didn’t heat up our kitchen much at all. Granted, we quickly escaped from it to devour our tasty bowls of faux-tto. Here’s the photo of our faux-tto…o.k. maybe I just like saying faux-tto. hehe.

  • 3 chicken breasts
  • 200g Portobello mushrooms, grilled
  • 1 medium onion, sliced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 pkg uncle ben’s fine herb and wild rice
  • 1 1/4 cup reduced salt chicken broth
  • 1/2 cup dry white wine
  • 1/2 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese
  1. This is an optional step. For our mushrooms we use leftovers from making portobello burgers. Marinate the mushrooms in a splash of olive oil, 4 tbl balsamic vinegar, and 1 tsp rosemary. Grill to desired doneness. Slice up the leftovers for this faux-tto. You can skip this step by just cooking the mushrooms during the garlic and onion stage. I recommend the leftover method highly though.
  2. Slice the chicken and slightly brown in a skillet, set aside. OR grill the chicken to get a sear, 3 minutes on each side, let sit for 5 minutes and slice. Chicken will be slightly underdone. Don’t worry we will take care of it.
  3. Add garlic and onion to the pan and cook until softened.
  4. Add rice and seasoning packet. Mix well and cook for 30 seconds. The rice should get a nice sheen to it. Stir in the broth and wine. Add the chicken. Bring the mixture to a boil.
  5. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes. The rice should be tender and the liquid should be mostly absorbed.
  6. Remove from heat. Stir, cover and let stand for another 10 minutes. Stir in the parmesan cheese and serve!

Makes four servings. Each serving contains 403 calories, 6.1 grams of fat and 1.2 grams of fiber. A very enjoyable dish for dining outside. Something different from the everyday bbq.

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Low Calorie Mushroom and Herb Risotto

Posted on February 10, 2010 | Leave a comment

Mmm good hobbits love their mushrooms. I find I love the taste of mushrooms but not the texture, so I tend to purée some of the mushrooms that go into my recipes. This gives my risotto a brown saucy look but makes it oh so tasty with mushroom flavour in every bite. Take a look:

This lovely serving came to only 300 calories and 10 grams of fat approximately. Totally reasonable for a dinner portion, you can even pair it with a salad if you are still feeling hungry. Plenty of calories to spare!

Here is my recipe:

  • about 3 cups of defatted turkey broth (I’ll post some details about how I make mine later this week), chicken will do fine too.
  • 2 tsp canola oil
  • 1 shallot, diced
  • 1 cup cremini mushrooms, slice as many as you want and purée the rest if you are like me about the texture.
  • 4 cloves of garlic, pressed
  • 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
  • 1/3 cup dry white wine
  • 1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
  • sea salt
  • pepper
  1. Heat the broth in a separate saucepan on low, you don’t want it to boil just be hot.
  2. Heat the canola oil in a skillet or pot.  Add the diced shallot and cook until translucent. Add the sliced mushrooms and cook until they are browned on the edges. Add the garlic, rosemary and about 3 tbl of the mushroom purée if you did this. Cook two minutes. Add the rest of the purée to your broth and stir.
  3. Add the rice to the skillet and turn the heat to low. Stir, once the kernels are a bit shiny and translucent add the white wine and cook until the wine has reduced by half.
  4. Add 1 cup of the broth to the rice and stir slowly until it has been absorbed into the rice. Continue to add the broth one cup at a time, stirring slowly and letting the rice absorb it before adding the next. The risotto is done when it is creamy on the outside and slightly firm on the inside. This usually takes about 20 to 25 minutes. Stir in the parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper.
  5. Divide into dishes and top with extra parmesan cheese if you like. I added about 2 tbl on top of mine and added the calories to the total for the recipe.

Serves 2

This made for such a lovely dinner last night for the two of us. It was creamy, full of mushroom flavour, and most of all satisfying for my foodie urges. Risotto sounds so intimidating when you hear those chefs being yelled at for their on shows like Hell’s Kitchen but it really isn’t. When you don’t have chef Ramsey in your face all it takes is stirring and patience and a tasty rich dish will be yours to savour in no time!

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