Argentine Beef Stroganoff Alfredo Risotto

Just something I whipped up as I went along. Ended up being quite tasty.

Argentine Beef Stroganoff Alfredo Risotto
1/2 cup butter
2 raw argentine hamburger patties
130g fire roasted capsicum strips
1 1/2 cup aborio rice
1 pkt Xtra Full Beef Stroganoff Cup-a-soup
1 pkt Alfredo pasta and sauce
1 carrot, diced
1 cup frozen corn kernels
as much boiling water as needed, one kettleful will do

Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Put the patties in the pan, over high heat, breaking up with a wooden spoon while browning. Add the capsicum, and the rice. Fry until the rice is toasty and golden. Throw in the soup mix, the carrot, and the contents of the pasta packet. Pour in boiling water, enough to cover everything in the pot, and cook on a low simmer until absorbed. Keep adding, and cooking off, water until the rice is tender. Throw in the corn and cook for a minute or two more, just to defrost the corn.

Serve with a sprinkle of grated cheese, and a grind of freshly cracked pepper.

It got the blurry stamp of approval!

Confetti Risotto

Just something simple I made up as I went along...

Confetti Risotto
1 onion, finely diced
2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes
2 cups aborio rice
1L chicken stock
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1 cup frozen baby peas
1 Tbsp ranch dressing
40g cream cheese (approx 1 Tbsp?)

In a little oil or butter, fry the onion and garlic over high heat. Add the tomatoes, and the rice. Cook for five minutes, or until the rice picks up some colour, stirring constantly. Add the stock, one cup at a time, waiting until the stock has been absorbed each time before adding more. Straight after the final cup of stock, add the frozen vegetables. Once the stock is absorbed and the rice and vegies are cooked, add the cheese and the dressing. Remove from heat, and stir through until cheese has melted and is completely incorporated.

Garnish with mozzarella and finely chopped spring onions.

So Yummy Risotto

Due to both my local supermarkets not having any sage in stock, and an abundance of other substitutions, I'm going to post this recipe as I made it, and not the original from the cookbook.

Pumpkin, Tarragon & Baby Spinach Risotto
Based on the Squash, sage and walnut risotto from Slow Cooking by Katie Bishop
1 kg butternut squash, peeled, deseeded, cut into 2-3cm cubes
4 sprigs Tarragon
1 red onion, peeled, halved, thinly sliced
2 tsp minced garlic
2 Tbsp olive oil (I used garlic infused)
350g risotto rice
1.3L chicken stock
100g baby spincah leaves
Freshly grated Parmesan to serve

Place the pumpkin, tarragon, onion and garlic in the dish of your slow cooker. Drizzle with the oil. Cover with the lid and cook on HIGH for 2 hours, stirring once halfway through. Pumpkin should be just tender. Add the rice and stock, stirring through, but be careful not to smoosh the pumpkin. Reduce heat to LOW and cook for another 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Turn the heat off, and stir through the spinach leaves. Season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper, and serve topped with plenty of shaved Parmesan. Serves 6.

The name comes from Miss Four, who proclaimed it as such, and who thought the original, more descriptive title was too much of a mouthful.

This was an entry for
The Cookbook Challenge: Week 19 - Rice.

Pork, Mushroom & Baby Spinach Risotto

Aborio rice, and beef stock, cooked in the microwave.
Mushrooms and pork, sauteed in a frying pan, with baby spinach added at the end so it just wilts and goes bright green.
Combine the two at the end of cooking.
God, I'm a cheat's cook if there ever was one!

DP had noodles

Don't forget to think (and cook!) pink for the Virtual Night In, raising money and awareness for Breast Cancer Research.

Creamy Tarragon Chicken with Leek Risotto

Creamy Tarragon Chicken with Leek Risotto
4 chicken thighs
3/4 cup buttermilk
tarragon
1 leek, sliced thinly
1 cup aborio rice
maggi, liquid stock or stock cubes
butter/oil

Place the chicken, tarragon and buttermilk in a zip lock bag, and remove as much air as possible. Leave in the fridge to marinate for 20 minutes, longer if you have the time. Gently sautee the leek in the butter until just starting to wilt, then add in the rice. Cook over low heat until the leek is cooked, translucent and collapsed. Then transfer the rice and leek into a microwave container with 2 cups of stock, or water with maggi or stock cubes in it. Cook for 5 minutes on HIGH in the microwave, stir, and return for another five minutes. Keep stirring and cooking for 5 minute intervals until the rice is done. You may need to add more stock if the rice has absorbed all the liquid but the rice is still hard to the bite.
Fry the chicken in your buttery, leeky frypan. Add the leftover buttermilk once the chicken has browned, but not fully cooked. That will give it enough time on the heat to kill any bacteria, but not so much that it will all boil away. Serve with the cooked risotto.

French Onion, Mushroom & Zucchini Risotto

Another cheats risotto. I've found that simply using aborio rice the same way I used long grain still ends up with a passable risotto. Of course, the only risotto I've ever had that didn't come from a packet, or wasn't cooked by me was at a pub, and wasn't even made with aborio rice, so I'm not the best judge of what could reasonably pass as a "real" risotto.

French Onion, Mushroom & Zucchini Risotto
1 cup aborio rice
2 cups hot water
1 packet french onion soup mix (the type that makes up litres, not a cup-a-soup)
100g chopped mushrooms (about two large flat ones)
1 zucchini, chopped
50g butter (give or take)

Place the first three ingredients in a microwave proof container, and cook on high for 3-4 minutes. Stir, and then repeat as many times as necessary until the rice is cooked, about 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile throw everything else in a frypan, and cook gently until the rice is done. Stir the rice into the vegetables until coated in all that lovely buttery goodness. If you have cream, now would be a great time to add it. I didn't, so I added milk instead, but that's totally optional.

Tuna Risotto of Awesomeness

Tuna "Risotto"
1 cup Aborio rice
2 cups water
splash Maggi
2 sticks celery, diced
1 onion, diced
125g tin tuna, drained
125g corn kernels
2 tbsp sour cream
2 tsp good quality tomato sauce or chutney (we used Outback Spirit Bush Tomato sauce)

Place the rice, water and Maggi in a microwave safe bowl. Cook on medium (600w) for 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes. Lightly spray a frypan with oil, then brown the onion and celery. Add the corn and tuna, and allw to heat through.
Once rice is cooked, tip the whole lot into the pan, and finish with the sour cream and sauce. Season to taste and serve.

Hardly a recipe for purists, but my kids didn't know the difference, and it tasted great!