Risotto Primavera (From The Complete Cooking for Two Cookbook by America’s Test Kitchen)

I love risotto. I love how creamy arborio rice can be and the flavor that beautiful vegetables can bring to the table. I came across this risotto in The Complete Cooking for Two Cookbook in the vegetarian main section. The recipe did not seem complicated and did not call for many ingredients, so I decided to give it a try.

Before I even turned the stove on, I prepared all of my vegetables. I thinly sliced mushrooms, diced an onion, chopped the green beans (recipe called for asparagus, but I decided on green beans), measured out the frozen peas, chopped the basil, and juiced a lemon. I also measured out the water, vegetable broth, arborio rice, and parmesan cheese. Risotto is made in steps where you add increments of liquid to the arborio rice at a time. This recipe was simple, but slightly time consuming as is risotto naturally.

There are just a couple changes that I would make to the recipe. I felt that the mushrooms should have been sauteed with the onion and kept in the pan rather than sauteed first and removed from the pan to be stirred in at the end. I also think it is important to watch the risotto to determine if there is enough liquid in the dish or too much (mine took longer to cook than what the recipe suggested). The last suggestion that I had was to steam the green beans before adding into the mixture because they were slightly undercooked when I let them cook in the risotto. Overall, this was a tasty dish that would be excellent with a few changes!

Taste: 8/10

Level of difficulty: 1/5

Notes for next time: Saute the mushrooms with the onions and keep them in the risotto until the end.