In the basement, mixing up the medicine

[venta]

I am currently the proud owner of a slow cooker, a Christmas present from my parents. As is the way of these things, every ingredient currently looks to me like something that would benefit from eight hours on a very low heat. One of the exciting uses to which the slow cooker has been put is making stock from the carcass of Sunday's roast chicken.

Armed with yummy chicken stock, some left over chicken, and an accidental excess of arborio rice, I leapt to the logical conclusion and we made risotto (not, you'll be pleased to hear, in the slow cooker).

It came out... ok. But no more than ok. It was suspiciously bland, and clearly needed something.

The trouble is, I'm not sure quite what the risotto needed.

It contained the following, in approximately this order:

Butter, finely chopped garlic, black pepper, arborio rice, white wine, chicken stock, cooked chicken, mushrooms, cream. It had grated cheese on the top (it was Cotherstone cheese, which I'm aware is not a traditional choice, but is what was in the fridge. I don't usually stir in cream, either, but there was some that needed using up).

Now, normally when I make risotto it's entirely vegetarian, and has everything in it. However, having made a rather nice butternut squash risotto a few weeks back (following a recipe, would you believe) I realised that maybe risottos (risotti?) can work in a more minimalist style. The recipe above doesn't even have onions in, and I was barely aware that you could cook a meal without onions.

Risotti I have cooked in the past have always featured onions (or leeks at a bare minimum) and I do actually wonder if that was what this one needed. The rice was nicely cooked, the texture was good, all the omens were propitious... but the taste was bland in the extreme.

I really thought that combination of ingredients ought to work. I was hoping for "delicate". Can any of you competent cooking types spot the obvious flaw in the plan?

Comments

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

I would put in something like lemon or lime juice if onions weren't being used. The list of ingredients you have sounds like it would be ok, if a little on the bland side, but obviously it would depend on how much pepper (and salt - was there salt??). I'd also have gone for a few herbs, I suspect - maybe chives or parsley.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I practically never put salt in cookery unless following a recipe which instructs me to. My mum cooks with practically no added salt, so I guess it's just what I'm used to.

This was being made of things-left-in-the-fridge, so there were no fresh herbs. On reflection, some dried mixed herbs did go in there.

When eating it I did try adding lots more pepper... which made didn't feel like it was the thing that was missing.

When would you put lemon juice in ? In with the stock ?

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

OK - I don't think no-salt is wrong, just that it would have definitely given it a bit more *something*.

Lemon juice I guess would have put in either with the stock or with the chicken, but then I tend to taste risotto as I go and add stuff according to how it tastes at that moment, so it's a bit hard to say exactly. It would depend on how acidic the white wine was, for instance.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Yup... I tend to taste as I go, but don't have much concept of how lemon tastes as a replacement for onions! (I do know what lemon tastes like :) Just can't quite entastage[*] it in this context.)

When half your family drops dead in early middle age from heart attacks, you get wary about salt :)

[*] Like envisage...