Thursday, September 16, 2010

Pear and Cashew Risotto

Guess what I have?



Eric's Pear and Cashew Risotto Recipe! Try not to drool on your screen.

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Ingredients



2 pears



¾ cup of white wine + ½ cup of same wine



½ cup sugar



1 ½ cups Arborio rice



1 ½ boxes chicken stock



1 tsp garlic



½ cup cashews



parmigiano reggiano



salt/pepper



olive oil



Directions



Peel and cube 2 pears into about ½ inch cubes.



In a sauce pan add ¾ cup water mixed with ¾ cup red or white wine of your choice (I use a pinot grigio) And ½ cup sugar cook over high heat until sugar dissolves into liquid.



Turn heat to medium and add pear cubes to syrup mix.



Keep pears at a light boil for 45 minutes while cooking the Arborio rice



Place 1 ½ boxes of chicken stock in a pan and heat over low to medium low heat.



Coat bottom of large skillet or sauce pan with olive oil



Add 1 teaspoon of garlic and cook until golden



Add rice on top of garlic and toast until you smell a nutty smell (should not be really brown but maybe a light gold brown color).



Pour ½ cup of wine into the pan and stir into rice and garlic mixture.



When the wine is absorbed and the rice starts to moisten add 1-2 ladles full of the warm stock and continue stirring. Keep stirring until rice becomes thick enough that it slowly runs back together when you stir and then add another ladle to a ladle and a half.  Keep doing this until all the stock is gone and the rice is plum and has a soft texture with a little bite. With the last two installments of stock add cashews that have been toasted in a dry pan for 2-3 minutes over medium high heat to rice mix.



The risotto should be thicker than a soup but still runny.  Add parmigiano reggiano cheese to taste and stir in until it is melted.



Finally pull pear cubes out of cooking liquid with a slotted spoon and stir into rice and cashew mixture.



Season with salt and pepper as necessary (I edited where Eric wrote "to taste"- for some reason I find the words "to taste" annoying haha).



Happy now kids?



By the way, I never put cheese in mine and I think it's fabulous without it, and healthier. Just me though.





11 comments:

  1. Ahhh sounds wonderful! But dang it I just have way too many recipes! I might have room for a risotto recipe though, I don't think there's one in my collection yet.

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  2. Can I come over for dinner some time in the next two weeks and try this so I can tell my nutritionist I had something new? That would be superrr

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  3. I love this idea of cooking with pears!

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  4. I never would have thought that risotto would be good with pears! Interesting combination, but i trust your palette. i can have risotto so I should try this recipe this fall! I am trying to cook more this fall since i have barely cooked all summer... sort of have been living on baked potatoes and other boring things!!

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  5. YAY! I cannot wait to try making this :-)

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  6. I just showed this to Nick and told him he needs to start getting creative in the kitchen. He laughed.

    I'm so impressed with Eric's risotto talent!

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  7. drooled on my screen anyways :) thanks for posting this!

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  8. Oooooh, thank you for sharing!! Risotto without cheese... hmmm, well I guess I can try anything ONCE. ;) Now I wonder if I can convince hubs to make it for me.

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  9. That sounds amazing - and it looks so creamy!

    Great job Eric - and thanks for posting the recipe!

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  10. i hate 'to taste' as well or when someone says it wasn't to my taste it makes me think they are a major douchebag! haha... just say i didn't like it.

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