I looked through the rain streaked windows on the front porch. The houses across the street were damp and quiet and the push of cars uphill had slowed. I ran around the house through the mud in leopard print slippers and hoped that no one caught a pair of hot pink penguin pants running around the yellow bungalow on the corner.
As it turned out, the back door was unlocked. I removed my slippers and walked into the kitchen. Into the smells of roasted squash, homemade vegetable stock, and sweet stewed pears where I forgot all about the mud and the pajamas and the shower less morning(s).
Risotto turned this dark rain-soaked Sunday into a warm bowl of summer. Arborio rice simmered in dry white wine, caramelized onions, and homemade vegetable broth made with ginger, parsnips, carrots, celery, onions, garlic, cilantro, parsley, and black peppercorns with a light sprinkle of salt. When the rice was cooked, roasted kabocha squash, stewed pears, blue and Parmesan cheeses transformed the plain white risotto, which on its own is a thing of beauty, into salty sweet comfort.

The 2010 March Daring Cooks' Challenge was hosted by Eleanor of MelbournefoodGeek and Jess of Jessthebaker. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make risotto. The various components of their challenge recipe are based on input from the Australian Masterchef cookbook and the cookbook Moorish by Greg Malouf.














