Chicken Florentine Risotto

The other night, while I was deep in the realm of dreamland, I found myself at a wedding reception, and there was a very clear tension in the air. It turns out, the reason for the palpable strife was that the caterer quit in the middle of the cocktail hour. A moment later, the wedding party was asking the culinary equivalent to the question, “Is there a doctor in the house?” At that point, I was tasked to, “Go make something. We have 100 guests.”

Luckily, a Wegman’s across the street magically appeared (saving this from being a nightmare, because Wegman’s always makes me happy). As I walked pensively through the aisles trying to figure out something I could quickly make for the huge number of people, I figured I should use ground meat to facilitate minimal prep and a relatively fast cooking time. So, I bought 25 pounds of ground chicken (even in my sleep, I do servings math) before heading over to the produce aisle to buy ALL the spinach they had.

In the dream, I really wanted to make Risotto…but I didn’t have time to make that, so I made some orzo to serve under the Ground Chicken Florentine. For this recipe, I decided to stick true to the original idea. I also distinctly remember notes of red colour in the meal from my slumber, but I couldn’t remember what ingredient I had used…so in the real grocery store, I picked up some sun-dried tomato to add to the tangible version of this meal.

“How was it?” you ask? Well, it was a dream come true! Sorry for that corny line…I couldn’t help myself, and there’s Polenta more where that came from!

**We used our leftover heavy cream to make Chana Masala for dinner the next night (in a drastic flavour profile turn).

Time: 50 Minutes

Ingredients:

  • Ground Chicken
  • Onion
  • Garlic
  • Spinach (and more spinach)
  • Sun-Dried Tomatoes (Julienne Cut)
  • Black Pepper
  • 1 Cup of Arborio Rice
  • 1/2 Cup Dry White Wine
  • 4-5 Cups of Chicken Stock
  • 2-3 Tablespoons of Heavy Whipping Cream
  • Parmesan Cheese

Method:

  • Bring a saucepan with your chicken stock to a simmer.
  • As your stock heats, peel and dice your onion and garlic.
  • Melt a tablespoon of butter in a large pan, and add your onion and garlic. Sauté for a few minutes until your onion turns opaque.
  • Add your ground chicken to the pan, and cook fully. Sprinkle in some black pepper as it cooks.
  • When your chicken is cooked, and the liquids in the pan have evaporated, drop in a ton of raw spinach and some sun dried tomatoes, and cook to wilt the spinach.
  • Add in your arborio rice, and stir to combine. Allow to sit in the pan for a few minutes.
  • Pour and stir in your white wine. Cook until it’s mostly absorbed.
  • Working one cup at a time, add in your simmering chicken stock, and allow to absorb. Once the previous cup is absorbed, add the next one!
  • When all of your chicken stock has been absorbed, and your rice is cooked and fluffy, add more spinach, and stir to wilt. (I did say I bought ALL the spinach in the dream, didn’t I?)
  • Sprinkle and stir in your Parmesan Cheese.
  • Lastly, pour in your cream, and fold your ingredients together to fully incorporate.
  • Plate, devour, and enjoy!

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