Carmelized Pear Risotto

A recipe inspired by something I had at Le Chardonnay restaurant in Madison.

Ingredients

• 2 ripe pears, chopped (we used Bartlett, but Bosc would probably do REALLY well)
  
• 1 medium red onion, chopped
  
• 1 small yellow onion, chopped
  
• ~1.5c arborio rice or medium grain white rice, or some combination thereof.
  
• 2c chicken broth (we used bouillon) (or veg)
  
• ~1tsp dried basil or about 1tbsp fresh basil
  
• salt and pepper to taste
  
• ~1tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  
• Boiling water, as needed
  

Risottos are pretty easy to put together, actually. Start by sauteeing the onions in the olive oil (with the basil and some salt + pepper) over high heat. You're looking not only to get them soft (a little transparent) but also to caramelize them a little bit. Once they're just a little brown, throw in the chopped pears, and again let them sautee until they're caramelized just a bit. Now add the rice and chicken stock (or, in our case, two cups of water and two teaspoons of bouillon). Let the mixture cook down, stirring often. Make sure you have a kettle of boiling water at the ready. When most of the water has cooked off (it shouldn't be DRY, but more a creamy consistency, and the rice will stick a little on the bottom of the pot) add another cup of boiling water. Repeat this process, cooking the water off and then adding more water until the rice is cooked through. When the rice is done, let the water cook down and don't add more. When it reaches the desired consistency, season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Thoughts: The risotto was delicious, but we've already thought of ways to improve on it. First, before you cook anything else, caramelize one additional pear (chopped) and set it aside. Cook the risotto as usual, and then at the end re-add caramelized pear as a last step. Another idea is to use canned pears in juice to get a slightly more powerful pear flavor. If you were really into it you could even add a little pear juice in addition to stock, but I think that might be a little excessive.

We served our risotto with Romano cheese, but there's almost certainly a more elegant pairing possible. I'm thinking Brie. Anyway, there are options you can experiment with.

Disaster Index: 1/10