Day Fifty-Seven

She Said:

I have been waiting for this day since March 31st. That was the day we started our own Julie/Julia project and also 10 days after we had planted a boatload of sweet pea plants.

When I was going through Serving Up the Harvest (by Andrea Chesman) and saw this recipe, I knew that spring couldn't get here soon enough. Well, it finally arrived.

Last night after work, we trudged down to the garden and picked a bowlful of pea pods. Then spent the next 10 minutes or so shelling the peas. When all was said and done, we didn't have quite enough for the recipe so we filled in with some frozen peas but the experience was great. And there are so many more pods on the vines that I know we will have plenty for our other "pea" recipes.

Risi e Bisi

4 cups vegetable or chicken broth
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 shallot, diced
¾ cup uncooked medium-grain or arborio rice (I used long-grain rice but should have used arborio)
Salt (optional)
2 cups fresh shelled peas (we had 1¼ cups and used ¾ cup frozen)
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan
Freshly ground black pepper

1. Heat the broth to simmering in a saucepan on top of the stove or in a heatproof container in the microwave.

2. In a large saucepan, heat the butter and olive oil over medium heat. Add the shallot and sauté for 2 minutes. Add the hot broth and rice, stir well, cover, reduce the heat, and simmer until the rice is just tender, 15 minutes. (We actually let this go for about 20 minutes.)

3. Taste and add salt if desired. (We didn't.) Stir in the peas and cook gently until the peas are done enough to suit you, about 5 minutes for fresh peas (less for frozen peas). Stir in the Parmesan and season with pepper. Serve at once.

This was so good! But, really, we should have used arborio rice - and will next time. This was our main dish (we had some cheese and wine prior to dinner) but it would make an excellent side dish for some nice grilled salmon or other fish. The flavor was just delicious. We will make this again!

Day 57/365:Recipe 30/175