Why is food around St. Patrick’s Day always green? Green beer, green shamrock cookies, green spaghetti… oh wait just a minute. No, no, never green spaghetti!! Okay, well maybe I’ll go along with spaghetti with pesto sauce, but’s that’s it!
Risotto is my go-to “rice” most of the time. It pairs nicely with most meats, fish, and chicken. Some of my favorite risotto recipes are: Limoncello, Leek & Asparagus Risotto, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme Risotto, and Primitivo Risotto Risotto With Sausage. And leftovers are easy to use up; for example, Asparagus Arancini.
Please understand I am dealing with a bit of a challenge here because my hubby, who grew up in New York, doesn’t like “green things” (what he calls cooked green vegetables) because vegetables were typically canned and mushy back in the day. So in an effort to cook a green-ish dish for St. Patrick’s Day, I came up with what I named Green Risotto. There are some green vegetables cooked into this dish, but not enough to turn up the nose of my biggest critic.
I started with green onions because I knew hubby would eat these. And if I threw in some wine to the pot, that might mask any “green” flavors hubby was expecting to taste in this risotto. That worked!
I sauté the rice in a bit of olive oil before adding the liquid.
Heat, stir, stir, stir. It’s worth it!
Peas complete the “greens” in this recipe and pair nicely with the green onions.
That’s about as green as this dish will get. And green tastes good in this Green Risotto!
Green Risotto For St. Patrick's Day
Ingredients
- 4 scallions
- 1 slice pepper bacon
- 1/2 cup white onion finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup arborio rice
- 1/4 white wine
- 1 cup peas canned or frozen
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese plus more for serving
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil plus more for drizzling
Instructions
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Trim scallions and slice in thirds, then into strips. Drizzle olive oil in a Dutch oven and heat, adding scallions. Cook until crisped and golden. Remove scallions and drain on a paper towel. Season with salt.
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Add pepper bacon to the Dutch oven with more olive oil if needed. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until fat cooks out.
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Mix onion into the bacon and cook until translucent. Then add garlic and cook for an additional minute.
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Stir in the rice and sauté for about 4-5 minutes. Add wine and continue cooking and stirring.
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When the wine has cooked out, ladle in one cup broth and simmer and stir until the broth is absorbed. Ladle in another cup of broth and continue cooking and stirring. The rice should be cooked through and most of the broth absorbed at this point in about 5-6 minutes.
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Add in the peas to warm them, along with butter and Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper.
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To serve, divide the risotto into bowls and top with additional Parmesan and scallions. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.