If I Only Had a Time Machine...

…then I would not make this dinner.  At least not tonight.  I spent quite a while browsing through cookbooks and cooking magazines this afternoon trying to find the perfect, easy and inexpensive dinner to make this evening.  In retrospect, the excessive time I spent on this search should have been used to cook something else that was more time consuming.  Actually, I should have just taken a nap in the afternoon and re-heated some leftovers from Chef Chu's this evening.

I had a narrow window of time to shop for groceries late this afternoon.  Moments before I really had to get going or not go at all, I decided to make Sausage and Broccolini Risotto from the December 2011 issue of Food Network Magazine.  In my haste, I failed to notice that the recipe was prepared in a Dutch oven.  I don't have a Dutch oven.  I noticed my error when I was at my small local grocery store shopping for ingredients.  I decided to carry on and hope that I could find something big enough and oven- and stove-proof enough to prepare the risotto in when I got back home.  I always err on the side of high-end ingredients but my bill was not too bad today: $28.63.

When I arrived home, I began cooking.  I decided to use a 12 inch All Clad skillet (I had to do a little research online first to confirm that it was oven-proof!).  Unfortunately, the skillet did not have a complementary lid so I had to use an ill-fitting one.  In hindsight, I should have prepared my ingredients first - completed all of the slicing, dicing, and removal of sausage casings - prior to beginning the cooking process.  The first order of business was to heat the broccolini in a little bit of unsalted butter over "high heat". I kept thinking that "high" seemed a bit too high but decided to follow the directions.  The recipe stated that the broccolini should be stir-fried until just tender, about 3 to 4 minutes.  8 minutes later, the broccolini stems were still pretty crunchy but the florets were getting blackened.  I then realized that I was to remove the broccolini from the pan, add all of the other ingredients and bake them before adding the broccolini back in at the end. I had counted on the baking process to further soften the broccolini but I was to be disappointed in that regard.

The next steps involved filling the skillet up with most of the remaining ingredients: the chopped yellow onion (slightly singed due to the high heat!), chopped carrots, aborio rice, a minced clove of garlic, some dry white wine (it is not ideal to have to quickly open a bottle of wine while food is burning on the stove awaiting the arrival of some liquid!), low-sodium chicken broth, and a can of diced tomatoes.  Luckily, the skillet was juuuuust big enough to accommodate everything.  After adding ingredients, mixing, and adding some more, I brought the concoction to a boil, put the lid on (and there were some unfortunate gaps between the lid and the skillet - hardly ideal for risotto!), and put the skillet into a 450 degree oven (and then crossed my fingers that the glass lid wouldn't burst as I wasn't sure if it was oven safe).  Lessons learned so far: (1) read the recipe through before beginning (I am always forgetting to do this - oops!); (2) buy a Dutch oven; (3) pre-prep my ingredients; and (4) follow my instinct and turn down the heat even if it goes against the recipe's instructions.

As the risotto cooked, I shredded some Italian fontina cheese in anticipation of the last step.  Right after I finished with the grater, I began unloading the dish washer as my sink was already full of dirty dishes.  As I moved to put a pint glass up in the cupboard, I somehow managed to bang the glass and it shattered on the counter.  Glass shards went all over the floor, in the dishwasher, and, unfortunately, on the plate of shredded cheese. I yelled to the kids to grab our two dogs to make sure they did not step on the glass, picked up the biggest shards, and then started shredding some more cheese. (I finished the glass clean-up a little bit later.)  When the risotto was finished baking, I set it on the stove and added some more unsalted butter and the fontina cheese, and began stirring rapidly, per the instructions.  This was supposed to have the effect of thickening the risotto.  Unfortunately, likely due to the ill fitting lid that allowed steam to escape the baking risotto, there was still too much liquid.  I turned the heat on again and hoped that I could fix the soupy situation.  I then grabbed a smaller skillet and continued cooking the broccolini in hopes that it would become more tender.  As you can imagine, my hopes for a tasty dinner were quickly dying.  Thankfully, the risotto did firm up and the broccolini softened up somewhat.  I added the broccolini into the risotto and called the kids to dinner.

My risotto "soup"

The Food Network's risotto doesn't quite look like mine! Hmmm...

My husband was at a work function tonight and I imagine that was a blessing.  He tends not to like the "one pot meal" meals.  I gave each kid a very small portion of the risotto realizing that (a) the slightly burnt pieces of broccolini and onion mixed into the risotto would be off-putting and (b) the 1/3 cup of white wine I cooked into the risotto still managed to have a prominent place in the flavor of the dish.  My son tried the most minuscule bite of each ingredient and declared it too "spicy".  (What spice???!)  He had leftover Chinese food.  My daughter ate hers and asked for a *little* bit more.  I was so excited!  That is, until she concluded that "this was pretty good but I think that it is something I will like more when I am an adult."  Sigh.  This adult liked the risotto well enough so I polished off my portion as well as my son's bit of leftovers.  The rest went into the fridge along with my hope that someone will eat it over the next couple of days.  

Wish me luck!