Cooking Through My Cookbook Collection – Williams-Sonoma Chicken

So back to my cookbook obsession. As mentioned in a previous musing, I have found that I don’t use my multitude of cookbooks as much as I should, and some not at all. When it’s time to make dinner, I find it easier to whip up one of my familiar standbys, or go to the Web for a quick search.

One of my New Year’s resolutions is to make at least one dish out of every cookbook that I have yet to use. If the book is truly not one that I’ll make meals from, it’s time to either donate it to the library or add it to my “someday I’m going to have a garage sale” pile.

With chicken in the fridge, I headed to a Williams-Sonoma cookbook titled, appropriately enough, Chicken. I was surprised to realize that I hadn’t made anything out of this book, as we eat chicken at least once a week.

Wanting to prepare something I don’t often make, I chose Risotto with Chicken, Parmesan and Peas. Risotto is comfort food … and we’ve already established my love of comfort food. Creamy, yet al dente, warm and satisfying; risotto is a treat to the mouth as well as the tummy.

And what is more versatile? Just about anything can be thrown into a pot of bubbling risotto and, shazam!, dinner is served. Unfortunately, it does take a little time to prepare … time spent constantly stirring over a hot stove … but it really is worth it.

The first time I had risotto was in culinary school. Until then I had never heard of the Italian short-grained rice, known as Arborio, used in the making of risotto. It is the starchy Arborio that gives the risotto its creamy consistency.

The process for making risotto is always the same. A pot of liquid, usually stock or broth, is kept hot on a nearby burner. Rice is lightly sautéed in some fat, white wine is added and cooked until it evaporates … then starts the laborious process of adding the hot liquid a ladleful at a time.

Aromatic vegetables are added for flavor. Shellfish, poultry or more vegetables are added to create a meal. Parmesan cheese often finishes the dish. It’s all good.

Risotto with Chicken, Parmesan and Peas

Back to the recipe. It followed the traditional risotto cooking method as mentioned above. Onions were sautéed in the fat prior to the addition of the rice. The cooked chicken and peas were added at the end. I followed this recipe pretty well, except I used olive oil for the fat rather than butter. I also sautéed some mushrooms when I cooked the chicken and threw them in the pot as well … after all, mushrooms go real well with both peas and chicken.

The dish was good. There was nothing especially unique about it, but it was a good, basic risotto recipe to use as is or as a building block from which to create more robust dishes. I have posted it on this blog with the changes I made. Looking through this book, I’ll be keeping it and trying some of the other chicken recipes. Perhaps I'll find another one good enough to muse about.