Risotto - New Food 13

In the interest of not becoming boring, I've been eating a new food every two weeks. For clarity, new food can be either new ingredients or a new dish, depending on what it is. New food #13 - risotto - is a perfect example of a new dish that counts as new food, namely because I attempted to make it from scratch, and because it's unlike anything I've made before.

Last year, bored with always making the same starchy sides, I decided to learn how to make rice pilaf. I happen to love rice pilaf, but I rarely ordered it and didn't know how to make it. One year later and it's almost as much a staple here as the tired sides it replaced. So on to something new.

This past weekend Hurricane Irene tore through the Eastern seaboard, wreaking havoc upon millions. We hunkered down with twelve fellow evacuees and awaited the sure power outage. While we waited, a friend whipped up (slowly??) a basic Parmesan risotto, and now I'm hooked. I made my first attempt last night - mushroom risotto. So, while it took a lot of patience, the husband approves, and I think "practice makes perfect" will be a good excuse to keep cooking delicious creamy risotto.

Also, I was completely fascinated by the way the rice soaks up the liquid. Yeah, I know that's how rice works, but normally my Zojirushi handles the rice cooking while I work on other parts of the meal. So in the end, tedious, but completely rewarding.

Image via Quinn.Anya