Let’s see if we can make this happen.
Tuesday I managed food and pictures. Wednesday I managed words. Can I swing food AND pictures AND words all in one night? We’ll see how far I get. This cold, if that’s what it is, has now been kicking my ass for the better part of 8 days, so I don’t know how high my hopes are.
Dinner tonight is the ultimate in comforting, from that ultimate in getting-kicked-out-of-US-school-cafeterias chefs, Jamie Oliver
It has not one, not two, but three types of cheese* in it, so naturally my sinuses instantly sealed themselves shut with excess mucus production upon simply reading the recipe. (Yes, I read it. It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day!)
*Parm, goat and gorgonzola.
Cheese overload aside, it’s a pretty straightforward risotto recipe – saute aromatics, toast rice, add wine, gradually add hot stock – albeit told in a Very Jamie Way, where things are measured in glassfuls and knobs rather than actual quantifiable units.
The crowning glory is, of course, the wads of stinky, stinky cheese you beat into the finished product. I had cut the recipe by some undetermined amount, since I didn’t need to make risotto for eight, so I must confess that my measurements were a bit imprecise. Hence the “wads.”
If I were more the food stylist, I would have thought ahead and purchased red-skinned apples for heightened contrast and color in the finished dish. I’m not, so I didn’t, and now you have to look at my monochromatic bowl of rice. Be happy I gave you a sprig of parsley.
Sinuses be damned, this is some tasty risotto. It’s not earth-shattering, and you can probably imagine what it tastes like – exactly like the sum of it’s parts, no less, no more. Pungent cheese, sweet apple, earthy nuts; a lovely combo.
(And frankly, one that I probably didn’t need a cookbook to come up with for me, but I’m having an off week so you’ll have to cut me some slack.)
And now, having cooked, cleaned, photographed, eaten and drug nearly three hundred and fifty words out of my addled, congested head, I think I’m allowed to run for the NyQuil.
Thursday Night Smackdown 
Think Hot and Sour Soup from the Chinese takeout. Your sinuses will thank you.
I swear, risotto is the tastiest thing on this planet that isn’t meat or alcohol (or chocolate!)
Feel better Michelle!!
I am so in that boat with you right now. I’ve been nestled snugly on my couch for a full 3 days now watching movies and terrible television. (My tv standards are astonishingly low when I’m sick). I am super impressed that you’ve managed to post anything at all, and the risotto looks delicious. Feel better!
Wow Deb, when I’m sick what I want is Thai Tom Yum Gai, spiced up with those little red triangular thai peppers or naga jolokia. I agree, asian hot soup is good for what ails ya.
I can practically smell the cheese just reading about it… yummmm
and, Nyquil ROCKS!!
deb, i wish i liked it! i’ve never had a version that i’ve enjoyed. agreed that it would be good for me, though.
miserichik, you might be right.
lexy, heh, my tv standards are non-existent when i’m sick. at least i haven’t sunk as far as ‘cake boss.’
foodgardenkitchen, i should try that, since i can’t do the hot and sour.
cynic, it really does. i’ve never slept so well.