Serves 8 as a main course.
Ingredients:
One chicken
Two bunches beets with green tops
2 tbsp olive oil plus more if needed
2 tbsp butter
2 large shallots
2 cloves garlic
2 cups arborio rice (do not substitute)
Salt
Feta cheese
Pecorino romano, bothe shredded and grated if possible
Fresh ground pepper
Chilled vermontina white wine from Sardinia
Instructions
Skin one 3 - 4 lb chicken to make 2 skinless breasts, 2 skinless thighs and 2 skinless legs. Reserve the select cuts for another meal. Make sure to remove the packet of giblets, dicard the liver (soft parts) and the bag . Throw into a stock pot with chicken carcass, cover with water and bring to a boil.
Get 2 large bunches of beets with tops. Cut them off ASAP or they will pull the liquid out of the beets and dry tem out. Cut the greens from the stems and reserve the stems and beets for other recipes. Chop them in 1/2 inch pieces using a large chef's knife.
Start 2 tbsp each of butter and olive oil in a large brasing pan on medium low. Cut 2 large shallots into a medium dice and smash 2 cloves of garlic. Add to pan and sweat for 3 minutes till wilted. Add 2 cups arborio rice and coat the grains. Stir in the beet greens and wilt them.
Skin any scum off the stock pot and start spooning in stock one cup at a time into the braising pan until the mixture is covered and liquid boiling. Stir and add another cup as you need to so as to keep the boiling mixture submerged. Add salt as you go to keep the flavor corrected (i.e. a salty stock will impart more salt into the grains than one that is not - so be careful.)
Keep up until the grains are soft and the risotto is creamy. Remove chicken from liquid, pick over meat and add the small shreddings to the risotto. Return bones to stock pot, add water to cover, and finish the stock a half hour longer. Set aside, decant, skim and package the stock for aother use. Cut some Wegman's ciabatta bread to fit into a toaster or toaster ovenand toast it.
Cut up one tomato and one handful parsley and add to the pot toward the end of cooking. Add 1/3 cup each of feta, shredded pecorino romano and fine cheese. Then add a handful of chopped fresh parsley, balance texture with water or stock as necessary, and serve with a piece of ciabatta toast. Use a pepper mill to crush black pepper to taste over each serving.
Chill a bottle of Vermontina from Sardinia, a heavy bodied white wine, to cut through the beet greens. The beet green flavor should be subtle enough that you will have to concentrate to taste it.
Comments:
Very, very good.