Here's what you'll need:
Some fresh (or pre-packaged grilled) artichokes.
Chicken stock
Butter
An onion
Risotto
White wine
Pecorino or Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper
To start this off right, acidulate some water (add the juice of half a lemon to a bowl of water). Trim the rough, stiff portions of a dozen artichokes and peel off the fibrous stalk. Drop them in the bowl of water and go light your grill. Once the grill is ready for direct heat. Grill the 'chokes until the edges are beginning to brown, about five minutes. Remove and go back to the stove.
... Or, you could use pre-grilled artichokes available in the vegetable section of the Whole Foods.
Most of the ingredients; the artichokes are already chopped here. The onion is already in the pan with half the butter. That's wine in the smaller measuring cup.
Dice a medium onion. Melt half a stick of butter in a large skillet. Add the onion to the butter and stir until the onion is soft and golden translucent, about ten minutes. Stir in 2.5 cups of risotto rice and continue stirring until the rice has absorbed the butter and is warmed through. Add 2/3 of a cup of dry white wine and rapidly bring it to a boil to remove the raw alcohol taste.
Begin adding the chicken stock--for a vegetarian, but not vegan version, use vegetable stock. Professionals say to keep the stock warm, but I don't bother. Just pour it into the pan and stir the rice. Keep the rice covered and don't let it dry out. Stir every couple of minutes to make sure all the rice is absorbing all the stock. Keep this up until the rice is creamy. This should be at least 20 minutes and take four to six cups of stock.
This is about half way through. You can see the swirl in the center where I've just been stirring.
In between stirs, chop the artichokes into small pieces.
Add half a stick of butter and about 3/4 of a cup of freshly ground pecorino or parmesan cheese, stir until it's all melted in and blended. (For this batch, I used a mix of these two cheeses.)
Add the artichokes and blend.
Ready to go.
This will also work well if you substitute mushrooms for the artichokes, too. And you know, a little slab bacon can't hurt either.
Serve with a dry white, maybe a French chardonnay.
-- Chapeau: Maxine Clark.
