Project 12: Month 10: Chicken and Beet Risotto

So this dish follow on from the previous one on Cabbage Rolls   I actually did these on the same day — I was trying to figure out what to do with the leftover water? After boiling the cabbage, it was such a great color, I figured there had to be a way to use it for another dish… So after looking through my ‘Try one day’ list of recipes, I came up with chicken risotto, but adding beets and using the coloured water.

This was actually in 2011, but just getting around to posting it now!

First time trying risotto — surprisingly really easy!

Ingredients

• 2 shallots, chopped
• 2 tbl spoons oil or butter
• 2-3 chopped beets (incl stems and beet greens)
• 2 chicken (I used white meat, but could probably work with dark as well)
• 2 cups arborio rice (this type of rice is the key for Risotto)
• 1/2 cup red wine/white wine (optional)
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
• 2-3 tsp vinegar

Step 1: heat oil, add chopped shallots and chopped beet stems.  (not the beets themselves!)

Step 2: add chicken and beet leaves (again, not the beets!). mix until chicken is almost cooked (it will cook completely through the rest of the recipe). The beet stems should be almost soft to eat as well.

Step 3: add a bit more oil, add rice and stir it around with the wine so that the rice is coated and sautee for about minute.

Step 4: add the water (stock) slowly until it just barely covers rice, then as it reduces, continously add more (approximately 1/2 cup at a time. Continue to add the stock until the rice is ‘al dente’ — whatever that means… look it up… 🙂

Step 5: You might not need all the water, but after about 20 min of slowly adding water, the rice will be a bit creamy — remove from heat and add all of the remaining ingredients while stirring. Add the parmesan slowly so that it melts and mixes well.

That’s it! Plate and serve…