Quick Daring Cooks Challenge

Ike and I are still on the road and this post is scheduled to post itself....so we'll hope for the best and post it manually if need be on our return.  Thankfully his months Daring Cooks Challenge turned out to be a fairly quick one as I had already prepared and frozen chicken stock which was one of the necessary components.  And also to our great fortune turned out to be something everyone here likes....what's not to like I guess?  I tracked down some Arborio rice for the risotto which I had not had good luck with in the past....but this time all turned out well and the meal was well received.  I most definitely make it again. This time I made 1/2 of the recipe indicated below, and I used shrimp, red peppers, asparagus, red onions, white wine and Parmesan cheese to flavour my risotto.  Next time on Ike's request....we'll leave out the red peppers:)

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.
It's really super easy and you don't really need to make your our chicken stock, a good store bought one will be just as good, at least according to the tasting panel at America's Test Kitchens!  While a little attention is required, it is dead easy to prepare perfectly:)

Risotto Base
Ingredients:
olive oil 2 fluid oz 60 ml
1 small onion, quatered
rice 14 oz 400g
Any type of risotto rice will do. I use Arborio but the recipe itself says Vialone Nano. Another to look for is Carnaroli.
white wine 2 fl oz 60 ml
chicken or vegetable stock , simmering 2 pints 1 L
Directions:

1. Heat oil in a pan and add onion. Fry for a few minutes to flavour the oil then discard. (We diced ours and left it in as we like onion).
2. Add the rice and stir for a few minutes to coat each grain of rice with oil and toast slightly.
3. Add the wine and let it bubble away until evaporated.
4. Add enough stock to cover the rice by a finger’s width (about an inch or two). Don't actually stick your finger in, it will be hot. Just eye it off.
5. Cook on medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon from time to time, until most of the stock has been absorbed.
6. Repeat Step 5 making sure to leave aside approximately 100 ml. of stock for the final step. .
7. Repeat, save 100ml for the final stage.
8. Once you are at this point, the base is made. You now get to add your own variation.