Brown Rice Risotto

If you are an Italian grandma please sit down and clutch your heart. I made risotto with brown rice. No expensive little packages of special rice from the north of Italy. I actually like this best made with brown basmati rice but I didn't have any.

Rachel and I had a California Pops rehearsal. All big band music for this show, which is sold out. I made this risotto right before we left I just had a bite of it and left it for my snack after rehearsal.

Brown rice risotto, onion and potato soup

This is an unusual recipe for me.  It takes over and hour. Although there isn't much work to do you do have to be close by. Every few minutes you have to stir the rice and add liquid when it needs it.

The process is the same as making a traditional risotto. I started by sauteing an onion in olive oil, then I added the brown rice and some thyme and sauteed them too.



I boiled some water and added an ounce of dried mushrooms.  When the rice had changed color I added a enough of the mushroom stock to cover the rice, a clove of garlic and stirred like mad.

So for the next 50 minutes or so I alternated between practicing and stirring and adding stock.

At the end I added some sliced water chestnuts, salt and pepper.

Tonight after rehearsal I sat down and heated up some of my leftover onion and potato soup, added a bunch of the now rehydrated wild mushrooms, a dash of Madeira and seasoned it. I reheated some of the risotto and added it to the soup.