Basic Saffron Risotto

After enjoying a indoor 4th of July hamburger and hotdog fest at some friends apartment (because it was raining) we all ventured out and saw Ratatouille at the Ziegfeld Theater. The film was wonderful. We left the theater with the desire to cook a delicious feast--sans rats.

Brian wanted to make a simple, basic batch of risotto so we search our cookbooks but couldn't find one that he wanted. We had some left over saffron from a previous recipe and wanted to use that, but no such recipe was in any of our many cookbooks. After searching for a while I finally found one that was close enough to work from; or at least get the measurements from. The recipe came from The Olives Table and worked well.

Here's how Brian made it:

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 small Spanish onion
2 garlic cloves
1/2 tablespoon of saffron threads (that's all we had, but it was perfect)
1/3 cup white wine
1/2 cups arborio rice
about 6 cups of chicken broth (Swanson's is the best we can find around here...but I hear there are better brands)
A lot of Parmesan cheese (although we used Grana Padano)

It was very tasty! Brian did a great job. He served it with a side of spring lettuce in a lemon dressing.

Rating: 9

Adapted from The Olives Table, p. 190