leek risotto

So, I have a confession... I meant for this to be a totally different recipe. I have these pretty glass jars in my cabinets that we keep all kinds of rice and grains in, and when I tried to make a leek and farro salad, I took the first jar, toasted the grains, and set about cooking them in stock.

About ten minutes later, when the farro should have just been starting to break down, my pot was full of puffed, mostly-cooked grains, and I realized -- I hadn't used farro, I'd used arborio rice.

At that point, I didn't have much of a choice. It was risotto or bust. (Clearly, this world needs a bumper sticker for *that* scenario.)

Fortunately for me, risotto is a pretty forgiving recipe. I'd already started by toasting the rice in olive oil, so all that I'd really done wrong was adding most of the water at once. Some vigorous stirring and a little extra stock later, and I had a delicious, if unanticipated, leek risotto. Don't you wish every kitchen mishap worked out that way?

Last but not least, the winner of the EatSmart kitchen scale is comment #57, Alicia! I'll be emailing later today for your address!

Leek Risotto Recipe

INGREDIENTS

2 tbsp olive oil

4 cups vegetable broth

1 cup arborio rice

1 leek, cleaned and chopped

2 cloves garlic

4 scallions, chopped

1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated

2 tbsp butter

Salt, if necessary

DIRECTIONS

Toast the rice in olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat for approximately one minute. After about 1/3 of the rice kernels are white, add the first cup of vegetable broth. Warm the remaining cups in a separate saute pan.

Stir frequently until the broth is absorbed, then continue adding broth, 1 cup at a time, until the rice is mostly cooked. Add the leeks, scallions and garlic until they've cooked. When the rice is cooked and the leeks and scallions are cooked down, add the parmesan cheese and butter until they melt into the risotto. Add salt and pepper if necessary. Serve.

Serves 2.