Shrimps and Mushroom Risotto

This is my first time making risotto. To tell you the truth I never even heard of risotto until I ran across this month Daring Cook’s Challenge host byMelbournefoodGeek and Jessthebaker. When I first saw the challenge I was afraid to try it out, but once I read through the recipes and did some research…I realized it wasn’t hard at all. Just time consuming. As always, loving a challenge, I set out to gather my ingredients. Of course, living in such a small town, I ran into trouble finding the Arborio Italian rice. Suddenly, I’m contemplating if I should take this challenge or not, and I tried to find every excuses possible weighting the pros and cons of it all. Alas, Amazon came to the rescued as I bought I first bag of this Italian rice online! For $1.29!
Ok that sounds crazy, but at least it shows how dedicated I am in getting this right.

So after almost 2 hours (stock and risotto) of slaving over the stove, I result was absolutely delicious! Of course, I not really into creamy rice, but my 2 years old seem to be loving it. She was the first guinea pig sort of say, but she finished every single spoonful of it. I am still trying to finger out why my picky eater relishing it. Maybe it the creaminess or it the shrimps and mushrooms, her two favorite items, but whatever it is, she end up finishing it up for me. Of course that would be over the course of 2 straight days. To me it reminded me of our rice porridge and I don’t really care for it, but it was pretty good once you get used to it. I might even love it next time around. Which that will be pretty soon! Anything to make my 2 years old picky eat, even it meant another day of slaving over the kitchen stove.

I also want to add that to save time, you can use store bought chicken broth. It is just as yummy!



Chicken Broth

Ingredients:
1 Whole Chicken 4 + pounds
1 Large onion
2 Bay leaves
3 Garlic cloves
1 Tsp of salt
1 Tsp of black pepper

Methods:
1. With a 5 quart pot put all the chicken and salt and fill to the ¼ inches from top.
2. Bring to boil and add the rest of the ingredients and lower to medium and cook for 1 ½ or until water is reduce to ½.
3. Set aside on low heat.

Risotto recipe

Ingredients:
1 ½ Cup of Arborio Italian rice
½ Kosher
½ Cup shredded parmesan cheese
½ Cup shredded asiago cheese (optional, makes it really creamy)
7 1/2 Cup of chicken stock
6 Tbsp of butter
1 Tbsp + 1 tbsp virgin olive oil
26 Jumbo shrimp, peel and devein with tail on
1 Cup Sliced mushrooms
2 Tbsp of minced parsley
1 Medium onion chopped finely
½ White wine

Methods:

1. In a hot skillet pour 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
2. When oil hot, add the onion and stir until slightly brown and aroma.
3. Add the rice and stir until rice turn white.
4. Now add the white wine and stir until it is completely absorbed.
5. Next add 1 cup of chicken broth at a time stir until fully absorb, repeat again until all the 7 chicken broth is used up.
6. Before you reach the last cup of chicken broth, add the shrimp in there to cook it. Remove and set aside after fully cooked.
7. Now in a hot skillet add the last 1 tbsp of olive oil and then add the mushroom. Stir until cook and set aside.
8. When the rice is fully absorbing the last cup of chicken broth add the butter until it completely melt. Rice supposed to be el dente.
9. Lastly, add the cheese and stir until completely melt and add the shrimps and mushrooms and stir for a couple of minutes.
10. Remove and sprinkle the minced parsley and stir well. Serve hot with a nice glass of white wine.