We have a ton of garden fresh rhubarb that my wife’s grandpa gave us, so there will be a lot of savory rhubarb recipes coming. This recipe one was a true experiment. By that, I mean that I said to my wife before her first bite, “This could be good or absolutely terrible. There is no in between.” We were pleasantly surprised! It builds in about 5 or 6 very distinct flavours that (mercifully) played well off one another. I hope you give it a try (swapping in and out ingredients in accordance of your tastes, of course) and let me know what you used as your “optional additions” in the comments section!
We served this with Grilled Beets, but it would go excellently with a balsamic marinated pork chop or chicken breast!
Time: 40 Minutes
Ingredients:
- Arborio Rice
- Milk (double the volume of your dried rice)
- Water (double the volume of your dried rice)
- Onion
- Rhubarb
- Salt and Pepper
- Optional Additions to build complexity and uniquness:
- Mint Leaves
- Cheese (We used Parmesan, but we will try this with goat cheese in the future!)
- Honey (we used a truffle infused honey, but regular would be good)
- Chopped Walnuts
Method:
- Start by simmering your milk and water together in a sauce pan. Overall, your liquid should be 4x your rice volume.
- Slice your rhubarb long ways in half. Then, cut each half so that you have a bunch of thin semi-circular bits of rhubarb.
- Dice your onion.
- Melt some butter in a heavy bottomed (I like stainless steel for this) pan, and then caramelize your rhubarb and onions.
- When the onions and rhubarb are starting to brown, add your rice, and let it cook dry in the pan for about 4-5 minutes.
- Add about a quarter of your liquid, and let simmer until it is absorbed.
- Add another quarter of your liquid, and do the same thing two more times. (After this, there should be about a quarter of the liquid left)
- Add in all of your optional additions except for the honey.
- Pour your last quarter of liquid in, and when it’s almost fully absorbed (your risotto should be nice and fluffy at this point), stir in your honey.
- Plate, devour, and enjoy!
