Corn and Pea Risotto

 A risotto for summertime! 

This one is not nearly as heavy as most risottos, only a bit of Parmesan for the dairy - instead of my usual loading it up with cream and cheese!

I am quite shamelessly cutting and pasting from a previous risotto recipe I’ve blogged: Shrimp, Asparagus, and Spinach Risotto.

Risotto is one of the best “gourmet” meals to turn out in your own kitchen - especially if you are Gluten Free! - because it tastes so fancy. But really, there are two tricks to risotto, and neither of them are hard:

1. You’ve got to have the right rice;

And 2. You’ve got to know how to STIR. And who can't take a spoon and STIR?

See? Not hard!

Trick #1. The rice. THIS is the kind of rice you need for risotto. It’s called Arborio. Doesn’t matter a bit the brand, this is just what my grocery store had. It releases the starch that gives risotto its creaminess. I’ve tried making risotto with other rices: no go. Don’t bother. 😊 Spend the money and buy the Arborio.

Follow the steps in the other post Shrimp, Asparagus, and Spinach Risotto for the creation of the risotto itself - there are pictures in there that, unfortunately, blogger is not letting me copy and paste easily. 

After you have gone through all the stirring and adding of broth and more stirring and more broth, ad infinitum, for about fifteen to twenty minutes, before your rice is done!, toss your frozen peas and your frozen corn in. They’ll heat up while the risotto finishes. 

Then, when your rice tastes done and you pull it off the heat, toss in about three ounces of fresh Parmesan - that’s about a third of a cup, by my measure here!

Serve hot, with extra Parmesan on top, and some fresh parsley if you’ve got it! 

CORN AND PEA RISOTTO

Ingredients:

2T olive oil

3T minced garlic, about two cloves probably

2C ARBORIO rice

Lots of chicken broth (I used at least eight cups, but have more on hand)

3/4C frozen corn

3/4C frozen peas

3/4C fresh Parrmesan

Extra Parmesan and fresh parsley for serving

Honestly, you’re going to want to follow the steps for risotto at Shrimp, Asparagus, and Spinach Risotto. Basically you’re browning your garlic in oil, adding the rice and stirring to coat with oil, and then adding broth a cup or two at a time until the rice is done. But if you have never made risotto before, you want to have the pictures in the other link!

About fifteen minutes after you start adding broth, add in the frozen peas and corn. Keep adding broth and stirring until the rice is done.

Once the rice tastes done, pull the risotto off the heat and add the Parmesan.

Serve hot, topped with Parmesan and fresh parsley!

Servings: 8

Calories per serving: Roughly 200 or so