On this lovely evening we decided on a Risotto - Hefenweizen recipe that we "discovered" in Draft Magazine. Neither of us had ever made a Risotto before so we decided to go for it. This was a pretty interesting process/method of cooking rice that was really able to add a lot of flavor. So here we go...
Ingredients:
12 ounces oyster mushrooms (stems discarded/give to dog, and caps cut in 1/2-inch pieces)
1 1/4 cups Arborio rice
4 cups veggie bouillon
1 cup Pyramid Hefeweizen
1 medium onion (minced)
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus additional
1/4 cup green onions (cut into 1/4 inch pieces)
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoons dried thyme
2 teaspoons minced garlic
Instructions:
First we brought the bouillon to a simmer in a saucepan; at the same we melted 1 tablespoon of the butter in a larger pan over medium heat, adding 1 tablespoon of olive oil to it.
We added the onion to the pan, sautéing until tender, and then added 1 teaspoon of the garlic. We sautéed this for about 1 minute, then stirred in the rice. We sautéed this for 1 minute more, stirring constantly.
We then added the Hefeweizen, stirring constantly until it was absorbed by the rice.
Once the beer was absorbed, we added the bouillon, ½ cup at a time until all was incorporated, and then let it cook, stirring every few minutes until it was all absorbed.
While the risotto cooked, we again melted 1 tablespoon of the butter in a larger pan over medium heat, adding 1 tablespoon of olive oil to it. We added the mushrooms to this pan, and sautéed them until they were tender (5+ minutes). We then added the remaining garlic and ½ teaspoon of thyme and sautéed for another minute.
When all of the liquid was absorbed and the risotto was tender, we stirred in the mushrooms, Parmesan, remaining butter and thyme, and the chives.
We topped each serving with additional Parmesan and another sprinkle of fresh chives.
Cory (the beer drinker) says:
This is great! You get some hints of the toasted wheat that was in the beer but it doesn't dominate the whole experience. One might not even recognize what the wheaty beer flavor is until pointed out. I would definitely suggest this beer recipe for people who might not be the biggest beer drinkers. Added plus: the beer we chose was an excellent addition to this meal. Remember the appropriate glassware can make all the difference.
Sadie (the non-beer drinker) says:
This was super good! I really liked the flavor that the beer added to the risotto; it made it have a really "full" flavor (I could taste different aspects of the risotto on all parts of my tongue).
This recipe was a little too thymey for me, so I would half the thyme next time. :)
Zod says:
I love cheese.
I love mushrooms.
Recipe source
