I had meant to write this earlier, but we heard that the Swiss Government was holding a press conference in the afternoon - that’s almost never good - so we just went to the grocery store and stocked up before what we expected was going to be more restrictions.
They didn’t come, fortunately. The Swiss government just wanted to communicate to the people that they were taking the Geneva restrictions and making them nationwide. Regardless, we had to line up for 20 minutes before even being allowed in the supermarket.
Whatever, now we have food to last 3 weeks and I regret nothing. But we still have this damn half-used can of corn. For some bizarre reason, it’s pretty much summer here in Switzerland - so we’ll try to get rid of it in a summer risotto.
Summer Risotto (~60 mins)
OK CALM DOWN. It takes 60 minutes, but it also requires wine and a lot of very low-skilled labor, so you will probably be sloshed before you realize how long it takes to make.
Necessary Ingredients for basic risotto:
Olive oil
One onion, chopped up
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
6 cups of soup stock (or water mixed with 2-3 bouillon cubes)
1 cup of Arborio rice (you can really use any rice you have, but starchy rices are WAY better for risotto. Apparently you can use other grains too, but I’m not a fucking maniac)
1 bottle of dry white wine. Well, 1 cup or so for the rice, the rest is for you.
Parmesan cheese
Pepper (freshly ground pepper really helps this dish, if you have it)
Stuff to turn this into a summer risotto
1/3 cup of canned corn
8-10 cherry tomatoes, chopped in half
Some kind of green veggie - asparagus, frozen peas, courgette. Leeks. Whatever you want, I’m not your boss
Important ingredients, but life will go on without them
Some kind of herb, chopped up - parsley or basil or mint are good options
A blob of butter at the end makes this extra bad for you
Directions for basic risotto
Pour yourself a glass of wine. It’s been a long day. You deserve it.
I really hope you have two pots, because you’ll need them. Take the smaller of the two pots and fill with 6 cups of stock (or water with a few stock cubes). But on medium heat until it gets warm, then just put it on low to keep it warm.
Put the large pot onto the stove, heat at medium. Once it’s warm, coat the bottom with olive oil. You always want to heat the pot before putting the oil in. Swish it around.
You might want to top up that wine glass, you’re gonna be here for a while.
Add the rice to the pot, fry it in the oil for a bit until you see it all becoming translucent. Make sure to be stirring a lot - you don’t want to burn the rice.
Ok, now you’re gonna pour a bunch of wine into the rice and it is going to smell amazing. Probably between half a cup and a cup. Cook, while stirring, until the wine has been absorbed.
And that’s going to be your basic technique for the next 40 or so minutes. Pour in liquid, stir pretty constantly, once absorbed, add more liquid. Except instead of wine, you’ll be using the soup stock. I add the stock with a metal coffee cup I have.
This is monotonous and boring but worth it. Do not just dump the liquid all in there. Do not forget to stir. Just stand there, be patient, and let the process do the magic. Also you have the wine, so stop complaining.
You will eventually run out of soup stock. At this point, the rice will be super creamy and delicious and won’t be able to hold any more liquid. Perfect. Turn the heat to super low and let it sit there while you make the filling.
Directions for the summer part of summer risotto
In a frying pan, melt some butter and fry up the onions and garlic.
Add your green vegetable, and cook until it’s how you like it.
Add the corn, mix around just to heat it up.
Dump all this into the big pot and stir.
Finishing the risotto
You are going to want to add a shitload of grated parmesan. Just keep grating and tasting. Parmesan is salty, and so is the stock, so you probably won’t need to add salt to the dish.
But you will want pepper. Add pepper generously to taste (freshly ground is better)
Add the tomatoes and the chopped herbs. Stir stir stir.
If you are out of wine, you have my permission to open another bottle before eating.
