This Week's At Home Cooking Effort

This past autumn, I worked a lot. I worked. All. The. Time. I juggled 3 jobs, but for the most part, Wednesdays and Fridays were my easiest days, and those were the days I would make an effort to stretch a little at home, cooking-wise. Duck breast, Osso Bucco, Boeuf Bourguignon, Duck Confit, Paella, braised Ox Tail, Bouillabaisse, handmade Ravioli, Bourride de Lotte, Veal Canneloni, Doro Wat, etc., etc., etc...

My schedule has loosened up a lot (I now have entire days off!), and so while I don't feel the same urgency of doing something really special for Mike and I (and our friends) on my easiest days, preparing a nice meal on a day off is a pleasure, and quite frankly, my favorite part of the week.

Mike says he strongly dislikes risotto. He claims that the rice is always slimy on the outside and crunchy/raw in the middle. Not content to leave well enough alone, I am operating on the assumption that he has just never had a really good risotto- the rice should be tender all the way through, and the slow cooking releases the starch from the rice into the cooking liquid to make a creamy, unctuous sauce that is neither slimy nor puddle-y, but delicate and comforting. Plus, it is improved by the addition of tasties: butter, parmesan, saffron, bits of exotic mushroom, whatever.

I'm going to mull this over today. Maybe risotto as a side dish, rather than the foundation of the entire meal, just a small amount to reveal it's charms to Mike. But as an accompaniment to what?