Beer Risotto

Since tonight is 'guilty until proven innocent' night —aka Saint Patrick's Day/Night and sobriety roadblocks set up all over— I'll be staying right here at home, thank you very much!


I cooked up some Beer Risotto last evening. It'll be delicious again tonight, pan-fried with a few dollops of olive oil.

Pasta may be the go-to food for many; it's Risotto for me. Risotto (borrowing from Wikipedia) is a "traditional Italian rice dish cooked with broth and flavored with parmesan cheese and other ingredients, which can include meat, fish, or vegetables."

My rule of thumb for risotto is 2-to-1 stock to arborio rice. And always use arborio rice. I always have plenty of home-made veggie stock on hand, frozen into ice-cubes.

Add to that 3 ounces of a Vienna-style Lager per cup of rice. I use Balto MärzHon from Clipper City Brewing. Failing that, use an amber lager with at least a good hint of toasted malt character.

I usually add frozen peas near the end of the cooking process, but fresh asparagus, diced into small pieces, is delicious. I skip the Parmesan cheese, substituting with 'cheesy' nutritional yeast, sprinkled on top, when serving.

and ... don't forget the Marmite! For more of the recipe and procedures, go here.