My favorite way to unwind after a stressful day is to relax in the kitchen: stirring risotto with Billie Holiday playing softly in the background. Some may find the constant stirring this dish requires to be a bore but I somehow find it therapeutic. And risotto is so versatile, allowing you to be creative! Can risotto be an art form? Because I think it kinda is in my book. The options for dressing it up are endless - making it a food you can enjoy for ages, reinventing it with all sorts of add-ins. It’s no wonder it’s our favorite!! This Spinach and Gorgonzola Risotto was a fun twist on the classic dish and we enjoyed adding in a little green by including the spinach.

Gorgonzola

Gorgnozola is a type of blue cheese. I enjoy it on some salads, although I’ve never tried blue cheese dressing. It’s not something I would have originally thought to try with risotto but we’ve been really into cooking with different cheeses lately so we decided to give it a try. The first time I made this risotto I used too much gorgonzola and it was overpowering, in my opinion. Darrell ate it and loved it so you might also want to add more. For me, it was about a balance. I was looking for that hint of gorgonzola without it being in your face.

Carnaroli

Carnaoli is a type of rice that we hadn’t been able to find in Lexington (although honestly we didn’t search anywhere beyond major supermarkets so there very well might be a specialty grocery store that sells it). So we stuck to using arborio since it was readily available. Arborio is excellent and you can find it in most Walmart stores or other large groceries we visited in Central KY. It’s like $5-6 I think in KY and here it’s oddly $9.99 everywhere we’ve been thus far. A couple weeks ago we decided to check out Citarella, a gourment market nearby. While there, we came across carnaroli!! We were so excited. Our love for risotto began in NYC when we were here for New Year’s Even in 2018. When we came home to KY at the time, we set out to try the dish at home. Since then, we cook some type of risotto almost once a week. We’ve cooked with carnaroli twice and it is so interesting the subtle difference it makes in texture. Carnaroli seems fluffier than arborio.

The recipe makes approximately 3 servings.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 small shallot (finely chopped)
1 cup carnaroli (or arborio)
Salt
32 oz vegetable broth
1/2 cup spinach (chopped)
1/2 cup Sauvignon Blanc
1/3 cup grated Grana Padano
1/3 cup crumbled Gorgonzola

Directions

1. Warm vegetable broth in a small pot over low heat.

2. Prepare shallot, cheese, spinach. Since it’s important to continually stir the risotto, you’ll want to have ingredients ready.

3. Melt butter over medium heat. Add shallot and sprinkle salt. Cook the chopped shallots for a couple of minutes so that they become soft.

4. Add rice to pan and coat with butter. Toast rice about 3 minutes. You don’t want the rice to brown but you want it to start to become translucent around the edges (more apparent when cooking with arborio rice).

5. Pour in Sauvignon Blanc and stir the simmering rice. Allow the rice to soak up the wine and begin adding vegetable broth.

6. I use a small ladle and add about two scoops of broth at a time, each time allowing the broth to be soaked up by the rice before adding any additional. Continue to stir and add broth until you’ve used all of the broth. This will take a little while, be patient and don’t slack on your stirring! When the rice has absorbed almost all of the liquid, reduce heat and stir in Grana Padano, Gorgonzola and chopped spinach.

7. Plate and top with additional cheese if desired. I like to sprinkle mine with a little more Grana Padano.

Tried this recipe? I’d love to hear how it turned out!

Disclaimer: I am not a dietitian or medical professional and while I share what ingredients work for me or what I choose to eat (at my own risk) while dining out, I advise you do your homework when choosing ingredients and places to eat. I highly encourage everyone to do their own research when it comes to the products they cook with or restaurant’s procedures. I do not have celiac disease but rather a gluten-intolerance and I’m not an expert on gluten or other food intolerances, autoimmune diseases, or food allergies. I simply share the ingredients I have found work for me, the places where I’ve dined and my personal experiences.