Purple cabbage risotto

A whimsical purple and green risoto that's very simple to make and actually tastes good. Most of the color comes from purple cabbage. For two big dinneriz portions, you'll only need a quarter of a cabbage at most. I try to cut it pretty fine so that it just disappears in there. Thin slices that away. Spinner around and cross cut. I might not even use all of this. A risoto only generates so much of its own creamy sauce. So, if you put in too many fillings, there just isn't enough creaminess to coat everything, and the whole dish is less creamy. That's enough. I'll mince up a shallot, a purple one, obviously. Not that it really matters that much. Nice and fine there. And then, if you want to pick some of the purple baby carrots out of your assorted baby carrot bag, go for it. But again, doesn't matter much. Thin slices so that they cook fast. You can make risoto in a wide flat pan or in a sauier like this. It's less likely to stick and burn in a sauier. Heat up some olive oil and drop everything in. I can already tell that I need to turn my heat down. This is a situation where you really want to sweat the vegetables rather than sauté them. Gentle heat so that nothing browns and spoils the color. Give it some time. I cooked these almost 10 minutes until I saw them really softening. They need a good head start. Again, for two mealsiz portions, I'll go with a cup. 220 g of risoto rice. This is carnaroli. Vlone nano is my favorite and arborio is my least favorite, but it's fine. I like finer grains. Just let it toast dry in the pan for a couple minutes to develop some nutty flavor. You might want to turn up the heat at this stage. And this should be controversial for several reasons. I'm going to put in three cups, 700 mls of plain water. And I'll put it in all at once. The brown color of stock would spoil the purple a little bit. Plus, we've got all the vegetables. We've got more flavors coming. We really don't need stock. I like being able to actually taste the cabbage and the carrots. Nice and clear with this plain water, though. I will give it a big pinch of salt to start with. I put all the water in at once because the traditional thing where you gradually add a little bit at a time and you stir constantly. That does not make risoto any creamier. It just doesn't. I've tested that eight ways from Sunday. What makes risoto creamy is the high amalos content of the rice varieties that we use for it. I still stir it a little for the same reason that you stir anything in a pan. And I still add my liquid in batches mostly because I don't know how much liquid my rice is going to need and I like to just feel it out. But this recipe I've tested a bunch of times and I just know that it's going to need at least three cups of water. So I might as well start with all of that in my brand new three quart sauier from Maiden sponsor of this video. 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Use my link in the description to see Made in stainless collection and all of their other goodies. Thank you. Made in. All righty. I like a half boil for risoto. A spirited simmer. That heat looks good. While I'm waiting, I'll chop up some garlic. Especially when I need extra flavor. I really like to add my garlic at the end of cooking risoto to keep it strong. You just want to chop it extra fine so you don't see big white chunks in there. All right, 10 minutes after the first liquid went in, it's almost all drunk up. Just to be safe, I'll taste a few grains. Still crunchy, but we're close. I want my last doses of liquid to be red wine. I'll start with half a cup. I'm adding it at the end instead of the beginning because you'll get brighter color this way. And the color of the wine itself will help. But what's even more important is the acid in the wine. The acid turns the dark purple of the cabbage into a brighter, more reddish purple that's just prettier. So, you could do the same thing with white wine or if you don't want to use any wine, you could just hit it with a splash of vinegar and you will see that color reaction happen right in front of you. It'll brighten. I can already tell this is going to need more liquid. This could be water or wine at this stage, but I really like the bready aromomas that you get from relatively uncooked red wine and risoto. Some of that is the tannins and stuff, but I also think it's just the smell of the vaporizing alcohol mixed with the cereal aroma from the rice. It smells like bread. All yeast risen bread has alcohol in it. Yeah, I'm putting in my garlic now just to cook it a little, just to take the edge off it. And you want to stop cooking risoto when it's a little wetter than you want and when the grains are a little firmer than you want. The sauce is going to tighten and the rice is going to soften as we finish this up. So, my heat is off. As much butter as you can reconcile with your value system. Get that mixed in so it starts to melt. I'll do some pepper. I think the salt is going to be just right after we mix in all of this salty pecarino cheese. I like a big pile of it in a risoto. And here now at the last moment, we will stir in the greatest food convenience of all time, frozen peas. They just need to thaw and we'll keep them bright if we add them last. This risoto is going to be too tight, too thick by the time it cools on the plate. So, more liquid. I always tend to make my risoto too thick. If I can lay it flat by just shaking the plate back and forth, then I know I've kept it loose enough. That doesn't taste as unusual as it looks, but it's still a refreshing change of pace. Really bright, clear, vegetital flavors, great aroma from the wine. The color looks nicer under cool light than under warm light. So, consider serving this one outside in the blue light of a clear summer day.