A small break for dinner - BP risotto??

I normally don’t post on Fridays, my day off. But totally off topic I thought I might record something that others might enjoy. I happen to really enjoy a good risotto. It is hard to get me past a restaurant that has one of those on its menu. But I am a sort of an OK cook, and spending 20 minutes or so stirring this gunk that absolutely refuses to turn into a delectable rice is one of the disappointments that I have been known to impose on others.

So there I was, tonight, the Actress was at a Church dinner and I was stuck with making my own dinner. I had spent an hour and a half using a pressure washer with an 18-ft extension at full length, cleaning part of the wall of our house. (Have I some ideas for that industry!) So I really didn’t feel like stirring a pot for 20-minutes. So this is what I did.

I took 5 oz of Orzo* and tossed into a pot of boiling salted water. While it was cooking I put a knob (a large tablespoon) of butter in a sauce pan, melted it and added a large heaped tablespoon of flour. I stirred that less than vigorously until it was all mixed in and melted, and added, slowly a couple of ounces at a time, a cup of milk, until it was all mixed into a smooth paste. Then I chopped a bit of Brie that was in the fridge (about 2 – 3 oz) into the pan, and stirred occasionally while doing other things, until it was done.

Realizing that this, by itself, wasn’t maybe going to be that good, I found some mushrooms also in the fridge, and so put some butter into a second pan and, after crudely slicing them fried 5 for a few minutes until they started to turn brown. I poured the cheese sauce into that pan, added the drained Orzo (which was by this time sort of al dente, or slightly tough in the middle still), mixed it all together – and you know what! It was just like a good risotto – aaaah - life could be a whole lot easier in future.

Maybe I should call this BP risotto?? (The mushrooms . . . .never mind!)

* For those who don't know Orzo, it looks like grains of rice but is a pasta and you can find it near the spaghetti in most grocery stores. This was actually the first time I'd ever cooked it.