Day 108: a quiet happy zone

I’m becoming quite fond of making risottos; in fact, I look forward to making them so much so that I start clock-watching soon after lunchtime (although this holds true for most days when I start thinking about dinnertime - no matter what’s on the menu!)

I’ve decided I want to work my way through every Nigella risotto before I start coming up with variations of my own: I believe it’s important to get a feel for how proven and tested recipes are supposed to come out before getting too adventurous and experimental off the leash (pardon the crass terminology). After all, this cookalong is about learning, too, and as good a cook as I might have already classed myself to be before - I had still never made a risotto!

While I decipher how many I’ve made so far, and how many I have left to joyfully cook through, here’s the latest to add to my repertoire: Nigella’s Saffron Risotto.

Nigella’s Saffron Risotto

Now more familiar with the risotto-making process, I approach the task dignified and at ease: placing my stock and ladle in a saucepan over a gentle heat; the chosen vessel, to make said risotto in, firmly on the gas directly in front of me; my wooden spoon of choice in my right hand, and all ingredients for the la mantecare stage within arms reach. It becomes my Quiet Happy Zone for a short twenty minutes. When we have kids in our lives I imagine this will become a treasured, but rare, occurrence.

Flavour musings

Adding one too many stock cubes to the litre of water - with the saltiness from the parmesan on top - my final bowl of gloriously silky golden risotto ended up quite salty. For me, however, that is never a drama: I do love salt. And still added extra parmesan as I ate my way through it.

Sweetly fragrant and warmingly golden: a bowl of Nigella’s Saffron Risotto will banish the gloomiest shadows from the darkest corners of a room, lift the dullest moods, and give the most loveable and reassuring hug.

You can find this recipe in Kitchen.