Chad's Risotto

This is a very simple recipe but it is time consuming.
You may want to do some arm exercises before beginning.

Zoe is a picky eater but when her dad makes risotto, she usually has two servings.

Chad's Risotto:

3 cloves of chopped garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ chopped onion
1 ½ cups of Arborio rice-Use Arborio rice...it's for risotto and it's nice and fat!
1 ½ quarts of either chicken stock or chicken broth
a pinch of crushed saffron or 1 teaspoon of paprika if you don't have saffron
1/3 cup of Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
salt and pepper to taste

Heat up the chicken stock or chicken broth in a separate saucepan. 

We use homemade chicken stock. 

Chicken stock can sometimes be hard to find in grocery stores, otherwise chicken broth works just as well. You just may not need to add salt at the end.

Bring the stock to just a simmer.

Have a 6 oz. ladle handy to scoop it into the rice.

In a separate large saucepan, add the olive oil, onion, and garlic and stir.

Once the onions start to turn clear add the rice and stir to coat.

Let the rice warm up and then add two ladles of stock.

Here comes the fun part. Hope you did your warm up exercises.

Stir constantly and keep it going.

I recommend a wooden spoon to stir.

Add stock when the liquid has almost evaporated and continue stirring.

About 20 min. into the stirring add the crushed saffron or paprika.

Saffron is expensive and hard to find, so paprika works just as well.

After about 45 minutes of stirring and adding the stock, the risotto should be done.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Remove the pan from the heat and add the Parmesan cheese and butter.

Stir thoroughly.

Serve immediately and enjoy.

It takes awhile to make but Oh My Word, it is worth it.
It's warm and hearty and cheesy and out of this world great!