Lemony Zucchini Risotto

K came up to visit this weekend. We had an awesome time hanging out at the park all day at a bluegrass festival. We stayed until our ears were full, and then we decided to come home and fill our tummies. I found this online, but it's from Bittman's Food Matters Cookbook.

Makes: 4 servings

Time: 45 to 60 minutes

Risotto can be almost meager or incredibly luxurious; this one manages to be both, as the grated zucchini mostly melts away, leaving behind a creamy richness that doesn’t depend on tons of rice or mounds of cheese. Parboiling the brown rice as directed in Step 1 helps the rice absorb water quickly and evenly.

• Salt
• 1 cup short-grain brown rice
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• Black pepper
• 1⁄2 cup dry white wine or water
• 3 to 5 cups vegetable or chicken stock or water
• 4 small or 2 large zucchini (about 1 1⁄2 pounds), grated
• Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 1⁄2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, optional
• 1 tablespoon butter or additional olive oil, optional
• 1⁄2 cup chopped fresh basil, plus more for garnish, optional

1. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil and salt it. Stir in the brown rice, adjust the heat so that the water bubbles steadily, and cook, without stirring, for 10 to 15 minutes. Drain well.
2. Put the oil in a large, deep skillet over medium heat. When it’s hot, add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until it softens, about 5 minutes. Add the rice and cook, stirring occasionally, until it is glossy and coated with oil, just a couple of minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then add the wine. Stir and let the liquid bubble away.
3. Begin to add the stock, about 1⁄2 cup at a time, stirring after each addition and every minute or so. When the stock is just about evaporated, add more. The mixture should be neither soupy nor dry. Keep the heat medium to medium-high and stir frequently.
4. After about 15 minutes of adding stock, stir in the zucchini and cook, stirring, until it releases its liquid and the mixture again becomes dry. Begin tasting the rice about 5 minutes later; you want it to be tender but with still a tiny bit of crunch. It could take as long as 45 minutes to reach this stage. When it does, stir in the lemon zest and juice, and the Parmesan, butter, and basil if you’re using them. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Serve immediately, garnished with additional basil if you like.

Lemony Zucchini Risotto with Fried Eggs. When the risotto is almost done, put a medium skillet over medium heat for about a minute. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil or butter and swirl it around the pan. When the oil is hot, crack 4 eggs into the skillet. When the whites become opaque, a minute later, turn the heat to low and sprinkle the eggs with salt and pepper. Cook until the yolks are set as you like them and the whites are completely firm; cut through the uncooked parts, if necessary, to encourage the still-liquid white to spread over the surface of the pan. Put 1 fried egg on top of each serving of risotto.

RESULTS: We both thought the flavor of this was spot on. Lemon + basil + Parmesan + shallots = yummy. (We used a shallot instead of an onion because we halved the recipe, and that's what I had on hand anyway.) The egg was also great. However, we found it took considerably longer than 60 minutes to make. After an hour and a half, we decided that it was good enough and ate it a bit closer to crunchy than al dente. From that, we have a couple notes: The first is to really par boil the rice for longer at the beginning (we did use the brown rice. This wouldn't be a problem if you used arborio rice). We only did it for 10 minutes, so try 15 or maybe even 20. The second is that if you do need to use more liquid than the recipe calls for, just use more water, not more stock. It gets more salty the more stock you add, and we found that even with an extra cup of stock (and trust me, I put in more than just one cup of extra liquid) it crossed the line from good salty to too salty. Otherwise, a great recipe!