Zucchini Risotto

Ingredients
1 tablespoon butter
1 medium onion , chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups Arborio rice
¹⁄₂ cup white wine
8 cups chicken broth
3-4 small zucchini, diced (around 3-4 cups of diced zucchini)
10 oil-packed sundried tomatoes, chopped
1 teaspoon dried thyme
6 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, grated or shredded
1-2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions
1. Melt butter in large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat.  Stir in onions and cook 2 minutes, or until starting to soften.  Add garlic and cook until fragrant, 30 to 60 seconds.  Add rice and cook, stirring often, until rice is opaque and well coated with oil, about 1 to 2 minutes.  Add wine and stir until absorbed. 

2. Working ¹⁄₂ to 1 cup at a time, add broth to rice mixture.  Stir often until broth is almost completely absorbed before adding more.  Repeat until rice is almost tender, about 20 to 30 minutes.  (This might not use all of the broth, which is okay.  If it ends up needing more broth than you’ve got, use water.) 

3. When rice is almost tender, stir in zucchini, sundried tomatoes and thyme.  Continue cooking, stirring, and adding more broth as necessary until rice is tender.  Stir in Parmesan and basil and season with salt and pepper before serving. 

Comments
This recipe is from [all(recipes.com](http://all(recipes.com/Recipe/zucchini-risotto/Detail.aspx) and it makes quite a bit of risotto.  Feel free to halve all of the ingredients if you’re not feeding an army or don’t want leftovers.  I had plans to use the leftovers to make Arancini, so I wasn’t too worried about the large amount of food this generates. 

The verdict on this risotto was mixed.  Art and I loved it and loved all of the flavors.  Lance felt that all of the added stuff overwhelmed the taste of the rice itself and thought the risotto was better in Arancini form later in the week.  The risotto you see on the plate was also a bit wet, but it firmed up once it cooled and absorbed more of the liquid – I was just impatient to serve it and have dinner!

You will not that I don’t advocate heating the broth ahead of time in this recipe and that’s a shift I’ve made over the last few years as I cook more and more risottos.  When cooking small amounts of risotto like this, it doesn’t seem to be necessary to heat the broth in advance.  I just pour it into the pot direct from the container and the risotto is just as tasty and correct texturally as it is when I heat the broth prior to use.  This is all a matter of personal preference, and I recommend that you cook the way that works best for you. 

Shown here with Baked Parmesan Tilapia.

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