Risotto of the Week

When I served the steaming bowl of Risotto to Mark this Monday night after a long day at work, I said:  "I've always wanted to be the type of person who would go home after a long day at work, too late to grocery shop, and whip up something like this from what I found in the pantry and freezer."  He looked at me like I was a freak, then sipped his Scotch.  Maybe so, but this risotto was pretty good. 

Swirl of olive oil
1 onion, hastily diced
1 Cup Aborio Rice
Swish of chardonnay
Salt
1 box of chicken stock
1 pat of butter
Frozen Ohio sweet corn, thawed (About a cup, or whatever)
1/4 Cup (or so) of crumbled gorgonzola cheese
"Real" bacon bits

Make the risotto like you always do:  Heat the oil in a saute pan on slightly more than medium.  When it gets hot, sizzle the onions for a couple minutes.  Add the rice and toast it for a minute or two.  Throw in a pinch of salt.  When it starts to pop and most of the oil is absorbed, add a swish of wine, enough to cover the rice.  Once its mostly absorbed, add the stock a bit at a time, stirring, and adding more each time the little bubble forms.  Do this for about 20 minutes, or until the box is almost gone and the rice just starts to soften when you taste it.  Then, turn off the heat, but leave the pan on the burner.  Add the butter, cheese, corn and bacon bits.  Mix it up until it is creamy and excellent.  Eat!

Corn note:  This is Beth's corn thing, which she learned form Nancy, who is, by all accounts, the foremost authority on what to do with fresh late summer corn.  So, when you have an extra ear of boiled summer sweet corn, slice it off the cob into a bowl, then use the back of the knife to rub the juice out of the cob and add to the corn.  Throw it in a freezer bag and freeze it. 

Beth's Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

According to Beth, they are real, and they're spectacular.  In her words:

Made them yesterday. Perfect size, perfect consistency, perfect flavor, perfect reviews from Greg. So what did I do? Well followed the directions on the whole wheat flour package. The only real difference is using whole wheat flour instead of normal.

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
sift the three together and set aside

3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 sticks butter
Cream together

Add 1 egg to butter/sugar mixture. Then add 1 tsp of vanilla.

Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet. Then add in 1-2 cups of chocolate chips. Whatever is your pleasure.

Preheat oven at 375.

I used a stone sheet pan from pampered chef. Lined it with parchment paper for easy clean up. In my oven I baked the cookies for 12 minutes. Instead of the teaspoon method to drop cookies which I hate, I formed small balls and just set them on sheet. I pressed down every so slightly not to really lose the ball shape.

Let them cool for 2 minutes before removing from sheet to cooling rack.

The only thing really different about the recipe is the flour.