Oven Baked Risotto

Happy Monday!

Or at least I like to pretend it is. It’s cold(ish), grey, and dreary. Andrew’s gone. Work is busy [hello tax deadline]. I was 80% of the way through an online exam last night when the server dropped and I lost everything. I like to pretend it was just unofficial study time. My stomach was off all day yesterday. I had a mediocre almond milk latte. Roma thought it would be cool to roll in vile things…twice.

All I really want to do is eat warm, comforting carb-filled foods. We’ll ignore the part where I had my first cup of real ice cream in years this weekend. Espresso with cocoa nibs from Salt and Straw. I caved. My skin has been doing pretty good since after my last facial where I tweaked my morning/night regimines. I’ve also been swapping the daily coffee for tea [I still have it, don’t worry!], and knocking back some fish oil daily. So far so good. I’ve noticed as long as the dairy is pretty much unprocessed and full fat, it doesn’t seem to affect me as badly. Fingers crossed as it has only been two days.

Risotto totally fits the bill for cozy foods; however, I’m super lazy and don’t like stirring and waiting and stirring and waiting. Over at Baked Bree, she posted a risotto where you pretty much set it and forget it [until the timer goes off, duh]. I really couldn’t tell much of a difference between this cheater way and the tried and true method. It’s probably because I don’t eat risotto too often. It works like a champ, though. It gets rich and creamy despite the lack of stirring.

I paired it with some some baked chicken that I rolled with some prosciutto and mozzarella [for Andrew]. I swapped out the mozzarella for dijon mustard for me. I’ll pretend I didn’t miss it.

Inspiration: Baked Bree

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup Arborio rice
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• 1/2 package of sliced mushrooms, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 400º and place your 13×9 baking dish in there with the butter so it melts.
2. Add the rice, onion, mushrooms, salt and pepper.
3. Pour in the broth, stir to combine, and cover with tin foil.
4. Bake for 35 minutes.
5. Remove from oven, remove foil, and fluff with fork.
6. Serve!