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Thursday, September 4, 2008

Chard, Walnut, and Gorgonzola Risotto

I had some gorgonzola cheese leftover from the Dinner Divas Chicken Cobb Burger, and didn't wait it to go to waste (as some cheese has, in the depths of that not-actually-so-deep cheese drawer). A quick googling brought me right to this amazing recipe. Not only to do I love risotto, but I had some chicken stock waiting to be used and this recipe brought a new challenge: chard. I have never cooked with (heck, eaten) chard, and truthfully didn't know it existed in the non-swiss variety. Thankfully, my local produce store is the BOMB and has everything under the sun. Finding chard was no problem (though now I have to figure out what do with the rest of it!).

This turned out much as I imagined. I couldn't really taste the chard, so I still don't really know what it tastes like, but still got the benefit of some vegetation in my carb heaven. The gorgonzola was a bit strong for someone who doesn't *love* it, but the toasted walnuts were such a wonderful addition. Since it's not really a strict recipe, and more a... handful of this and a hunk of that type recipe, I decided to measure along the way so I could remember how much of what I'd used. We paired it with some chicken breasts marinated in the lemon-rosemary paste from the Barefoot Bloggers Butterflied Chicken. :-)

Chard, Walnut, and Gorgonzola Risotto
from Cookthink

~1 quart (4 cups) of chicken broth
~2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
~1/2 cup diced onion
~1 cup arborio rice
~3/4 cup dry white wine (if you notice were I said my grocery store is the "bomb," I'll give you one guess as to where the rest of the bottle went)
~1 cup of chopped chard, stems removed (I used about 4 good sized leaves to get about 1 cup chopped)
~1/2 cup of chopped walnuts, toasted (I pre-chop mine as soon as I buy them because I use them a lot in baking)
~2 1/2 ounces gorgonzola cheese
~salt and pepper to taste

Heat chicken broth in a saucepan and maintain at a simmer. Meanwhile, head the olive oil in a large saute pan. Add onion and cook to allow to soften, about 5 minutes. Add rice and toast it, while stirring, about 2 minutes. Add the wine, stirring to combine, cook for 2-3 minutes. Add simmering chicken broth, one ladle at a time, stirring constantly with each addition until broth is absorbed. About halfway through the broth addition, add the chopped chard. When all the broth has been incorporated, add the walnut and cheese, stirring an additional minute or so to allow the cheese to soften and melt. Add salt and pepper to taste.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

seriously I don't often like risotto, but this recipe looks SOO good! I LOVE it with that chicken. Looks like a fantastic meal!

Anonymous said...

I bought chard for a recipe a month or two ago, and I just could not use it all. I finally got tired of thinking up ways to use it and threw it away. Hopefully you do better than I did!

Lisa said...

I'm a sucker for different kinds of risotto and this one sounds great. My favorite is always porcini mushroom risotto, but my husband can't stand the strong taste of porcinis. So I'm always looking for other ways to do risotto. I think he'd approve of this one for sure!

That Girl said...

I'm a big fan of gorgonzola cream sauces, so I'm thinking this is just my kind of risotto.

Cate said...

I'm a huge fan of risotto...bonus points here because it includes a vegetable! And gorgonzola is one of my favorites. Yum!

Eleganza Strings/ The DeLadurantey Family said...

This looks very good! When we lived in the north we always had loads of chard, to bad we did not have this recipe! YUM!

What's Cookin Chicago said...

Anything with gorgonzola is good in my book. What great flavors and textures to incorporate in risotto!