Mushroom Broccolini Risotto

This month at Food ‘n Flix we watched Sideways, hosted by Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor.

I first saw Sideways the year it had come out, back in 2005. My dad was sent to Blockbuster and told to get a comedy. He came back with Sideways. Being 18 years old and expecting something truly funny, I was not expecting the dark comedy he had brought home. We ended up turning it off.

Seeing it again these seven years later has made a mountain of a difference.

In Sideways two middle age men go on a trip through Southern California’s wine country. Honestly, until I saw this movie I had no idea that Southern California even had a wine country. I live in Sacramento, grew up in San Francisco, and went to college in Santa Cruz. I am very much a Northern California girl and always just thought of “wine country” as being Napa county. In fact, I have plans this summer to go wine tasting in Napa with several of my girl friends. I hope this happens because I’ve never gone wine tasting before. And I hope I’m not the driver.

For the recipe to share with Food ‘n Flix I decided to pick something and pair it with wine, since that was the overwhelming theme of the movie.

Here’s the problem. Well, there’s two. I don’t know much about wine and I’m cheap as hell. I originally googled what I should pair with a mushroom risotto and read that I should pair it with a Dolcetto. That sounds great and all, but the $20 bottle of wine from Bevmo really just wasn’t fitting this poor law student’s budget. Upon more searching I read that a chardonnay would be a good pair for this type of meal – and since the recipe called for dry white wine I decided I’d buy a wine, cook with it, and drink it.

This bottle of wine was about $10. I didn’t spit it out, so that’s a good sign.

It is a California wine, but not from the Santa Barbara area. This winery is actually in Sonoma County and is about an hour and a half away from where I live. This is definitely local wine. Though it was cheap, for this law student’s budget it was perfect. Websites indicate that “this Classic Sonoma County Chardonnay exhibits ripefruity flavors of pear, crisp green apple, vanilla and toasty caramel.” When it comes to wine I just taste fermented grapes, so what do I know.

I do like white wine more than red wine though – that is one thing I know. The reason though is because white wine doesn’t stain my lips and make me look drunk.

Risotto isn’t the easiest dish to make, but I think I pulled it off pretty well for this meal. Overall I was satisfied.

Find out about entering this month’s Food ‘n Flix here!

Mushroom Broccolini Rissoto
(serves 2)

Ingredients
1/2 lb arborio rice
4 oz sliced mushrooms
3 cups chicken broth
1 cup broccolini
1/2 onion, diced
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tbsp butter
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup white wine

Directions

1. In a pot combine the mushrooms and the chicken broth. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and boil for 20 minutes. When it has finished boiling strain the mushrooms. Reserve the broth.

2. Bring another pot of water to a boil. Add the broccolini and cook for 3 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water.

3. Ina deep skillet melt the butter with olive oil. Cook the onions for about 3 minutes. Add the rice and toast for 3 more minutes.

4. Add wine and stir for 2 minutes.

5. As the liquid evaporates from the rice, add 1/2 cup of the reserved broth to the rice. Continue to cook, bringing to a low boil, stirring frequently. Continue to add more broth (or water if you run out of broth) as the liquid evaporates, stirring consistently. Cook for about 20 minutes, or until the rice is cooked.

6. Fold in the broccolini, Parmesan, and mushrooms.

* serves 2