Christmas Eve Risotto

Risotto isn't exactly what I would call traditional Christmas fair. Nevertheless, I think it works beautifully. A thick, creamy, and warm risotto seemed like the perfect dinner to accompany a cold and snowy evening. When paired with a crunchy green salad and fresh hot bread, it created a perfect Christmas Eve dinner.

christmas eve risotto. in addition to being delicious, I
think the red peppers and green spring onions add
a nice Christmas-y touch as well!

Recipe

(adapted loosely from both this recipe and the roasted red pepper risotto Ben made this past October)

Ingredients

- 1 or 2 red bell peppers, chopped

- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 3 spring onions, chopped
-  8 to 10 mushrooms*
- 4 (or more...!) cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 cup white wine
- 1 cup risotto rice
- 3 cups vegetable broth**
- shredded Gruyere cheese, to top risotto
- salt and pepper to taste

*A chopped portabella would be great here, but since they do not seem to exist in Lausanne, we used button mushrooms.

** If you can make your own veggie stock, more power to you, but the one time I tried to make soup with homemade stock was quite a disaster (I think Ben's exact words were, "Well....at least it's food..."). We used one cube of vegetable bullion in three cups of water.

Step 1: Chop the veggies.

chopping veggies by the Christmas tree :)

mommy the pepper-dicer

Step 2: In a large pot, simmer the vegetable broth and white wine on low heat. 

Step 3: In a separate skillet, sauté the spring onions, in 1/4 cup of olive oil. Add the mushrooms. Add the red peppers and risotto, stirring frequently. Continue cooking until risotto is toasted, then begin adding broth-wine mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, until liquid is fully absorbed (about 30 minutes). 

first, you sauté the spring onions 

chef ben!

Step 5: Sprinkle with a small amount of shredded gruyere (or, if you're Ben, sprinkle with a large mountain of shredded Gruyere) and serve. Bon appetit! 

mmm.....doesn't that look delicious?

To balance the creaminess of the risotto, we also made a light green salad with fresh red pepper, gorgonzola cheese, and candied walnuts. Ben and I had made candied walnuts previously, for our Thanksgiving meal, and though they were delicious, it seemed as if there was something missing. This time, we used brown sugar and added in cinnamon, which gave them considerably (maybe even too much!) more flavor.

blurry photo, delicious salad: mixed greens,
red peppers, gorgonzola cheese, candied walnuts. 

the candied walnuts were pretty tasty, but still not as good
as ben's grandma Jane's! 

my favorite way to eat fresh bread: with extra-virgin olive
oil, parmesan cheese, garlic powder, and dill.

setting the table!

a wonderful christmas eve dinner!