Sweet Corn Risotto

I’d like to share a few observations from the course of the past few days or so. These will be random observations, so if you were hoping to read a well-constructed blog post tonight, you’re a bit out of luck. My brain is just not working that way right now. 😉

• We found out today that this is what Joe remembers most from our trip to Hawaii. (How do we know this? Eavesdropping, of course, when he was talking to one of his best friends. Shameless parents.)

“When we were in Hawaii, we went to a luau and there were hula dancers there. But we saw people in Hawaii that had – literally – WAY LESS on than the hula dancers did. It was weird.”

• Conventional wisdom would tell you that dogs can’t tell time. However, Earl the pug has a very precise body clock. Every day at precisely 5:00 p.m., he wakes up from his afternoon nap and begins to stalk his food bowl. Every single day at 5:00 p.m. I’m not even kidding about this.

• I like cinnamon roll coffee cake way too much. I think I ate half the pan after making this today. (Full disclosure: it was an 8×8 pan.) I even turned down Dairy Queen ice cream tonight because I wanted to have more cake tonight. I may have a coffee cake problem. (The recipe I made today can be found here; another good one is here.)

• Are these not the cutest little zinnias you ever did see? I need to look up what variety I planted so I remember for next year. This would also be a good time to remind myself to start a garden journal so I’m more organized about remembering the varieties of everything I plant. Um, yeah. Always seems like such a good idea … until I forget.

• Speaking of my garden … our mammoth sunflowers survived the deer and wind damage!

• And …. I found a monarch butterfly cocoon on a milkweek this week – look at how cool this little guy is!

• Plus … my cherry tomato plant is happily out of control. 🙂

• I still want to blog about our trip to Hawaii but I just haven’t had time to really get all my photos and thoughts together yet. Plus, I want to see my mom’s photos, too, in case she has some good ones I can share. One of these days …

• That said, I’ve been watching Beachfront Bargain Hunt all day on HGTV (the weather was horrible in Minnesota today) and now I’m wishing I could afford my own beachfront cottage. Sigh.

• Saturday night, I tried a new recipe from a blog I try to follow, IowaGirlEats.com. It’s called “Sweet Corn Risotto” and it’s quite fantastic. The fresh sweet corn really gave it a fun taste, along with the leeks and garlic from my garden. I’d highly recommend – I’m a total risotto nut case, almost to the point of my coffee cake obsession, by the way – so I’m sharing the recipe below. Don’t be afraid of making risotto – it’s not hard, but you do have to stay by the pan to monitor and stir a lot.

Thanks for partaking in my complete and total randomness tonight. Have a great start to your week!

Lara

Sweet Corn Risotto

Source: IowaGirlEats.com

• 6 cups chicken broth (I used low salt)
• 3 Tablespoons butter, divided
• 2 cups sweet corn kernels (about 3 small ears worth)
• 2 large leeks, white and light green parts only, sliced in half then into thin half moons
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• salt and pepper
• 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large shallot or 1/2 small onion, chopped
• 1-1/2 cups arborio rice
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

1. Bring chicken broth to a boil in a saucepan then turn heat down to low to keep warm and place a lid on top.
2. Meanwhile, melt 2 Tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium heat then add sweet corn, leeks, and garlic, season with salt and pepper, and then saute until leeks are tender, 10 minutes. Remove mixture to a bowl then set aside.
3. Melt remaining Tablespoon butter in extra virgin olive oil in the skillet then add the shallots and saute until starting to turn tender, 2 minutes. Add rice then stir for one minute. Add wine then stir until nearly absorbed by the rice. Add two ladlefuls of chicken broth then stir constantly (not too fast, not too slow) until nearly absorbed then add another two ladlefuls and stir, etc until rice is creamy and al dente, 25-30 minutes (you may not use all 6 cups of chicken broth.)
4. Remove skillet from heat then stir in parmesan cheese and corn and leek mixture. Season with salt and pepper to taste then serve.