risotto

I know it is sort of 90s early 00s cuisine, but I love risotto.  It is the perfect combination of a starch (that can even be gluten free), fat, veg, and protein.  The problem is, my husband has never liked it.  He has always had not-so-great versions of it.  Having sort of given up gluten for the most part, I have had to get creative with what to pair meat and veg with.  So recently, I bought a box of risotto and made it by the instructions, served it with a filet of beef and grilled asparagus – G went bonkers for it.  He didn’t even ask where the bread was, because I made the risotto with parmesan, butter and garlic.  It was so creamy and delicious, he swore that I had added cream to it.

With this new door of exploration open, I have been dabbling here and there with risotto.  Earlier this week, I make this simple grilled chicken over roasted tomato and mozzarella risotto.  We ate every last bite, and it was so very easy to do.  Even better, most every ingredient I already had on hand.

Loosely:  I marinaded the chicken with olive oil, garlic, italian seasoning, salt and pepper for about an hour prior to simply grilling it.  I cut the breasts in half, almost like palliards, so they weren’t so bulky and they cooked faster.  I roasted grape tomatoes covered in olive oil in the oven for 40 minutes at 400.  I sauteed a ton of spinach on the stove top until barely wilted.  And of course I cooked the risotto to the directions, adding white wine for the first liquid dump (instead of chicken stock) after toasting the rice in olive oil.  When it was al dente, I added in the roasted tomatoes, sauteed spinach and blobs of mozzarella (the small ball ones) and folded it together.  G grilled the chicken, we sliced and served it over the risotto.  I topped the whole dish with a little parmesan cheese, some chopped parsley and basil, and a drizzle of olive oil.  It truly looked like a restaurant dish, and tasted so much better.  G was floored at how good it was, he even asked for it to be put into rotation.  WHAT!