Red Wine Risotto with Rosemary and Garlic

Risottos are not something that I do a lot. I've tried it a few times but, in fact, I've never been happy with the result. Therefore I couldn't wait to try one out from "The Complete Italian Vegetarian Cookbook" and hopefully add it to my repertoire of "black dress" dishes (stuff that goes with anything).

However, risottos are tricky. Not really technique-wise, it's all about boiling rice. The problem is that this rice needs to be stirred and have stock added to it for at least 30 consequent minutes. And that is a very long time when you have 2 hungry little kids competing for your attention!

But I tried to be organized and plan ahead. My 4 year old, I placed in the sofa in front of the TV with a big supply of tomato wedges and cucumber slices. My baby girl (she's only 3 months old and hasn't started to eat solid food yet, that's why I don't mention her a lot in the blog), I put in her little baby chair where I could look at her and talk to her all the time, making sure she was well fed and recently changed.

Then I started to cook. First, the rice is fried in oil with garlic, rosemary and scallions. Then half a cup of red wine is added. When that is absorbed stock is added little by little until the rice is all soft and done. At the end, lots of grated  parmesan cheese is added.

And, I managed to pull the dish off. The fried garlic and rosemary made the kitchen smell magical. I served the risotto with chicken and it was absolutely delicious. The only negative comment I have about this is that the colour of the risotto was very dull. I had expected something more ruby-ish, as I used red wine, but it turned out a rather unappealing shade of brown. Maybe the stock had to much yellow turmeric in it. I use a Swedish vegan brand that tastes very good, but the next time I might use another brand, or simply add some more wine at the very end of cooking.