3 EASY Risotto Recipes | Dinner Made Easy

Hello, lovelies. Have you ever come to the right place? Today, we are making risotto three delicious ways, and I could not be more excited. It's actually crazy with how much I love risotto that I've never done a full video on it. I think I've made a couple versions of risotto over the years. I've made a really tasty mushroom risotto. I've got a beet risotto on the channel. A couple variations, but I've never made a video dedicated entirely to all the goodness that is risotto, and I think that's a shame. So here I am solving that problem. First up, we are making an incredible asparagus and goat cheese risotto. How incredible does that sound? Now, if you've ever made traditional risotto before, you probably know it can be a bit fussy. You have to heat the broth separately and then add it one ladleful at a time and stir it basically constantly for 25 to 30 minutes. And while they do turn out really, really beautifully, the fact of the matter is I just don't have that kind of time and patience. So I'm calling these cheater risottos. If you want to make them, though, in the traditional fashion, you can go right ahead. For this, I'm starting with a nice wide-bottom skillet on the stove. I've got it heated up over medium-high heat, and I'm just going to add a few tablespoons of butter to that and let it melt away. If you don't want to use butter, olive oil is always an option. Totally your call. Once my butter is melted, I'm going to go ahead and add my leeks to the pan. It's really important when you're working with leeks, you want to chop them really finely and then rinse them in a colander. The layers of the leeks tend to sometimes get a little sand in them, and nobody enjoys that in their dish. So word to the wise, rinse your leeks well before you add them to your pan. And at the very same time, I'm also going to add some finely chopped celery. I'm going to let these cook together in perfect flavor harmony. You want to let those leeks soften up a little bit, and everything will turn nice and bright green. That's how you know it's time to build in even more flavor with some minced garlic and some fresh thyme leaves. Once those have become nice and fragrant, you can go ahead and add your rice. Now, as with most traditional risottos, we are using Arborio rice here. Now, Arborio rice is what is traditionally used in risotto, but if you don't have any on hand, you can use really any type of rice you want. But using Arborio rice means extra creaminess and extra deliciousness, and that is what a classic risotto is made from. I like to cook my rice for a minute or two. It just gives it a slightly nutty flavor and helps things soften up a little bit. Once it's become translucent, I can go ahead and add my broth. My broth is not hot, and I'm adding it all at once. Leave comments if you want to. I know this is not how a traditional risotto is made, but the truth is it's going to be delicious no matter what. I'm going to season this mixture up with some salt and some pepper, bring it all to a boil, and then once it's reached a boil, I'll reduce my heat to medium-low, pop a lid on this guy, and then let it cook away for between 20 and 25 minutes or until our rice is nice and soft and everything is super creamy. With about five minutes left in the cooking time, we can go ahead and stir in our chopped asparagus. I don't like adding it any sooner just because asparagus does tend to get a little mushy when it's overcooked, and that is not delicious. You want it to retain some of its texture. I'm also going to stir in, at this point, some goat cheese. Now, this is definitely optional. You can leave this out if you want to, but the tanginess of that goat cheese with the earthiness of that thyme and then that nice, crisp asparagus is a perfect combination. I like topping it with a little more crumbled goat cheese, and oh my goodness, guys, we are in risotto heaven. Seriously, true story. Next up, I've got a vegan risotto. It's actually a butternut squash and sage risotto, and it's so super tasty. We're starting, once again, with our nice, big skillet on the stove. I'm gonna fire this up over medium-high heat, and then for this recipe, I'm actually going to be using some vegan butter. Now, you can find this now at most supermarkets, but if you can't find it, it's totally fine. Use some olive oil instead. I find vegan butter imparts a little bit of additional flavor into a dish. Once my vegan butter is melted, I'm gonna go ahead and add some finely diced onion. I'll let that cook up for two or three minutes, just until it starts to soften up, and then I'm going to add my butternut squash to my pan. Now, whole butternut squash can be a bit of a pain to work with. It's hard to peel, it can be tough to chop. I'm not saying you shouldn't do it, but I am saying most supermarkets now carry butternut squash that's already been peeled and cut into cubes, so why wouldn't you use that, especially on a busy weeknight? The other option, of course, is to deal with your squash during your Sunday meal prep and just to have it hanging out in the fridge when you are ready to cook it on a Tuesday or a Wednesday. Once that squash hits the pan, you can go ahead and take this opportunity to hit it with some salt and some pepper and then let it cook away for another three to four minutes. Then we'll add our rice to the pan and let it cook for another one to two minutes. I'm going to sprinkle in some freshly chopped sage, which adds a ton of beautiful flavor that, to me, is very reminiscent of Thanksgiving, which is why I just love it so, so much. As we did with our first recipe, we are going to give our rice a little bit of a chance to cook through. You'll know it's ready when it starts to turn translucent, very similar to your onions. You always have the option to skip straight to your vegetable broth, but I am a fan, if you are into cooking with wine, this is an amazing place for it. I like to give a splash of wine in here. You don't have to worry about the alcohol content in the wine, it cooks off almost immediately, and all you're left with is this incredible flavor. But if you are not into cooking with wine, it's not a problem at all, just skip this step and go straight to adding your vegetable broth into the pan. Once your broth has reached a boil, you'll reduce your heat to medium low and let this simmer away, again, for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring it regularly. You'll know it's ready when the rice has absorbed all of that liquid and your butternut squash is nice and soft and delicious. I'm going to hit it with more salt and more pepper, and then I like to garnish this with some fried sage leaves. When you fry sage leaves, they get a bit crispy and delicious, and it's a nice contrasting texture from that really creamy, dreamy risotto. I have to say, you butternut skip this dish. That's some sage advice. Finally, we are making a risotto completely inspired by all the delicious flavors of a Caesar salad, and I have to say, the entire team has been salivating since I mentioned it, so you know it's gonna be good. In this case, I am actually going to be starting by cooking up some bacon over medium-high heat. If you didn't wanna use bacon in this recipe, that is totally fine. You can go ahead and use some butter instead. That would work, but we are going to basically cook our bacon, remove it from the pan, and then save it to crumble on top of our finished risotto. So I've got about a tablespoon of the remaining bacon fat left over in my pan. I've reduced my heat a little bit to medium, and I am just gonna get an onion in here. We'll cook that for two to three minutes until it gets nice and translucent and softens up, and then we will build in some of our Caesar flavor. First up, we are adding some garlic to the pan. It would not be Caesar anything without garlic. I've got three cloves here. It's aggressive, I know, but trust me, it's gonna all be worth it. And as long as everyone's eating it, it doesn't matter that y'all have garlic breath. And then to that, we're gonna add some chopped anchovies. Love them or hate them, anchovies are an essential part of a Caesar salad. If you wanna skip them, that's totally fine. I've just finely chopped some. I'm gonna get those into the pan. I am last but not least going to add a little bit of mustard to this as well, and there you go. That is a lot of flavor in one place. I'm going to let that heat up for 30 seconds to a minute, letting those flavors come together, and then I'll add my rice to the pan. Once my rice starts to become a little see-through, it'll be time to use a little white wine to deglaze my pan. If you are not into cooking with wine, once again, go ahead and leave it out. But I think white wine in a Caesar flavored dish, come on, why not? Why not? Get it? We'll give this a second to let the alcohol cook off completely, and then we will add our nice savory chicken broth to this mixture. Once that chicken broth has reached a boil, we'll go ahead and do the very same thing. Turn our heat to medium low, pop a lid on and let this cook away, stirring often until everything has been absorbed. I seriously wish you guys were here to smell this. At the very end of cooking, we are going to stir in a couple more key ingredients. First, I am adding some chopped spinach to this, not only because we need more greens in our life, but because we're trying to mimic a Caesar salad. It felt right to get some greens into the pan. I'm also going to add my nice savory bacon back into my risotto at this point. And then to offset some of those savory flavors, I'm going to add a bit of freshness and brightness with the zest and juice of a lemon. And finally, my lovelies, this would not be complete without a whole heaping helping of freshly grated parm. I like finishing this off with a good helping of pepper. I don't think any additional salt is necessary, but it's great thanks to the Parmesan cheese and that bacon. And there you have it. If you want to serve it with a side of greens, you go right ahead, but I'm just going to devour this entire bowl of deliciousness. I hope you will give all three of these tasty recipes a try. And if you do, be sure to tweet me, Instagram me, or Snapchat me a photo, because as you all know, I love seeing your kitchen creations. Keep in mind, all three of these tasty recipes are available in the description box below, so you can find them there. And finally, if you have not already, be sure to subscribe, because there is lots more deliciousness where this came from. What did the chef say when they messed up the risotto? Risotto!