Originally found this recipe in The Joy of Cooking and it quickly became a favorite. But then, what with one thing and another, it dropped out of the rotation. The ingredients here are pretty similar, but over time I’ve changed the order of operations and really sped things up.
One of my favorite risotto tips I got from my brother. He currently tests missiles or something else he can’t talk about, but once upon a time, he was a line cook in one of those really fancy restaurants at a resort with a celebrity chef’s name on the door. One day, cooking there, he was gently massaging the stock into the risotto 1/2 cup at a time the way everyone says you’re supposed to do, when a more experienced chef walked by. That guy laughed at him and said “watch this” then dumped all the stock in gave it a stir and told him to walk away. Sure enough, 15 or 20 minutes later, it tasted just the same. A bunch of stirring at the end gets the starch mixed in, but meanwhile, you’re free to prep the later ingredients instead of stuck at the stove. The one thing to watch out for is to make sure it doesn’t run out of liquid before it’s tender… the rice will burn and stick to the pan, and that’s no fun.
Corn and Tomato Risotto
Ingredients
- 5 cups chicken stock
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup scallions white part only finely chopped
- 1 1/2 cup arborio rice
- 1 cup white wine
- 3 ears corn
- 1 cup diced tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons fresh basil chopped
- 1 lime juiced
- dash salt
Instructions
- Put the chicken stock on to simmer.
- Heat the butter in a large skillet (one with a lid) until it foams and subsides. Add onions and saute until softened. Add arborio rice and saute for a minute or two. Add white wine and simmer until reduced.
- Pour about 1/2 of the chicken stock into the saute pan. Stir well to mix it in. Then put the cover on (you can also skip the cover, but then you have a bit more evaporation) and leave it to simmer for about 10 minutes while you prep some other stuff.
- Speaking of prepping other stuff... Cut the kernels off the corn (should be about 2 cups). Take 1 cup of kernals and puree in the Cuisinart. Maybe give the rice a stir and make sure it's not scorching. Add more broth if it's mostly absorbed.
- Cut up the tomatoes, add with the basil and the lime juice. Throw in a dash of salt.
- Check the rice. Again, might need to give it some more broth and a quick stir. If it's starting to soften a bit, throw in the pureed corn. Pop the lid back on and simmer for another 5-10 minutes.
- When the stock is well absorbed, taste to make sure the rice is tender enough to eat. Then stir in the rest of the corn kernels and the tomato mixture. Season with salt and pepper.
- Serve topped with Parmesan cheese.
