Y’all already know risotto is our favorite. We love how you can dress it up or keep it simple and therefore we love trying to new risotto recipes any chance we get. One of our new favorites is a red wine + goat cheese take on this Italian comfort food. I love trying different cheeses in risotto and I wasn’t sure if goat cheese would really “work” in this dish but IT DOES!! And if you’re not a huge fan of goat cheese, I think you’d probably still like this risotto because it’s not in your face with the goat cheese flavor!

I used a Cabernet Sauvignon for the red wine and it was excellent - the purple hue is beautiful and it adds a different depth to the flavor than white wines in my opinion. Really excellent flavor when you pair it with the goat cheese!

We’ve used arborio and carnaroli both and either are great for your rice. I like to keep it simple and stick with vegetable broth but my, oh my, do the brands matter! We have tried several brands of broth here lately and Swanson Vegetable Broth is the only way to go, if you ask me! Seriously, just stick to Swanson. Some vegetable broths have been WAY too overpowering and it severely skews the taste.

Darrell is somewhat new to the world of cheese and I wasn’t sure if he’d like goat cheese in risotto but he loved it! It was SOOOO GOOD that we ate THREE NIGHTS IN A ROW one week! No joke! And we loved it more each time.

Check out my recipe below, I’d love to hear if you give this recipe a try!

This recipe makes approximately 3 servings.

Ingredients

• 1 cup arborio (or carnaroli)

• 1 tbsp unsalted butter

• 1 small shallot, finely chopped

• 1/2 cup Cabernet Sauvignon

• 32 oz Swanson Vegetable Broth

• 1.6 oz (or 1/3 of a 5 oz log of goat cheese)

• Salt

Directions

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

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

3. Melt butter over medium heat in a saute pan. Add shallot and sprinkle salt. Cook the chopped shallots for 1-2 minutes so that they become soft and fragrant.

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 Cabernet Sauvignon 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 almost completely 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 goat cheese. Serve!

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.