date night risotto — Honey Street

a little while back i asked what kinds of recipes folx wanted to see on instagram, and a very common thread was ‘date night recipes!’ this made my heart burst and got my wheels turning for several reasons: i love the gesture of cooking for someone, and i love that other people love it, too. it’s obviously one of my top ways to smother someone in my own love, but i also think it’s a beautiful way to show care. it’s effort, it’s something shared, it’s vulnerable (clinking my glass to the brave ones who are kitchen-shy and doing it anyway!) it’s a delicious means to an end, and there’s something super special about tucking in at your own table, or couch, floor sprawled with blankets, pillow fort, etc. etc, and enjoying something you made together. i also love it because date nights are not just limited to couples! date nights with your favorite gals, date nights with yourSELF (v important,) date night with literally anyone that fills you up to the brim.

generally, and I hope on the whole, anyone you’re inviting for a date night can dig a fancy but unfancy bowl of creamy, super delicious pasta. a super delicious pasta whose starring cast includes butter, wine, prosciutto, and a sexy amount of cheese? that should be just about everybody, right?

for this particular date night, we’re embarking on a risotto journey. if this is your risotto maiden voyage, welcome aboard! it looks tricky from afar, but i assure these are smooth waters, and all prospective dates will be quite impressed. *you don’t have to tell them how easy it actually was. i made this exact meal for valentine’s day 2020 - a different lifetime, entirely - and if memory serves, he was quite impressed.

risotto is a dish of patience, of repetition, and sort of mediation. it’s one of my most favorite things to cook because of it’s simplicity, but also because it is so out of this world, insanely good. once you get the onions sautéing and the arborio rice toasting, it’s petty much a simmer, pour, stir, situation from there on out. i find it to be pretty methodical, and as an added blessing, since you’re really just stirring with one hand, you have the other free to sip wine (yay!)

a few things before we get rolling:
- I can’t stress enough that you cannot screw this up, but you must understand that it’s a low and slow process. we don’t want to tempt fate by rushing this, you know?
- it has to be butter, olive oil, arborio rice, and broth. if you’re going to skip anything, it’s the wine, but if you substitute anything else here, i promise you it will not work
- speaking of the wine, choose a dry white wine that you’re excited to drink! whenever you’re cooking with wine, it should always be something you enjoy. i went with a South African chenin blanc, which is not all that dry, but the label had cool maps and a gazelle so i felt my choice was obvious
- this version of date night risotto has a few added bonuses with prosciutto, peas, and lemon, but if those aren’t your jam, parmesan and parmesan only is just fine

date night risotto
makes: 4 servings
prep time: less than 5 minutes
cook time: 25-30 minutes

1 onion, diced
1c arborio rice
1c peas (frozen + thawed works great here)
4-6 slices of prosciutto
1c dry white wine (do not use ‘cooking wine’)
4c chicken stock or broth
juice and zest of 1 lemon
2tbsp butter
2tbsp olive oil
1 1/2c grated parmesan cheese
pinch of salt and pepper, to taste

preheat the oven to 400.
add the stock to a sauce pot and set to a simmer.
meanwhile, in a large, heavy pot, heat the butter and olive oil over medium. once the butter is just beginning to melt, add the onion, salt, and pepper. saute for 5 minutes until the onion becomes translucent. then, add the arborio rice to ‘toast.’ stir for about a minute, then add the wine, and stir again, taking care to scrape up the browned bits from the onion and rice in the bottom of the pot (this adds so much flavor!)

once the wine has been almost completely absorbed by the rice, lower the heat to medium-low and begin adding the broth in batches, once at a time, using a 1/4c or 1/3c measure. each time you add a measure, gently stir the rice and allow the broth to absorb. repeat this process of adding the broth, stirring, absorbing, until all the broth has been added.

while you’re in the process of adding the broth, arrange the prosciutto slices on a baking sheet and pop them in the oven for 5 minutes to crisp up (keep an eye on this - they’ll go from perfectly crunchy to horribly burnt real quick.)

once all the broth has been added and the rice is thick and creamy, add the peas, prosciutto, lemon zest, juice, and cheese. stir to combine, then serve. *i like to reserve a little over prosciutto, zest, and cheese to top each bowl with. sort of like icing on the cake, but way, way better.