Leftover Turkey Risotto

Every time I make risotto, it gets easier. The first time, I was all intimidated, envisioning centuries of Italian grandmothers ready to whack me with wooden spoons if I didn’t keep stirring in a clockwise (or was it counter-clockwise?) direction. Well, after making risotto for a while, the niceties get thrown out the window.

Here is the easy risotto recipe I made with the leftovers of the leftovers from Thanksgiving. All I had on hand was turkey, thyme, an onion and mushrooms. And a bit of Parmesan. That is vital. -- AnglophileLV

Leftover Turkey Risotto: serves 4

Ingredients:
1 can chicken stock
½ C white wine (or a generous dash, enough to reach all the risotto grains in the pan)
1 cup Arborio rice
Butter or olive oil
½ onion, chopped into small pieces
5-10 mushrooms
2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1 handful turkey bite-sized turkey chunks
½ cup parmesan
Turmeric (optional)

You’ll need 2 skillets for this operation, or one pot for the mushrooms and one skillet for the risotto.

1. Melt 1 Tb butter in the skillet. Add the onions and let them cook down. Add the Arborio rice and stir until it is more golden than white on LOW heat. This can take a while, but you don’t want the rice to burn. If you’re new to risotto, stir constantly. Otherwise, you can let it rest a bit while you’re doing other stuff and let instinct guide you.

2. Heat the chicken stock in the microwave for 2 minutes. Most recipes say to keep it boiling on the stove, but that uses another pot.

3. Add a generous dash of wine (about ½ cup) to the risotto. The wine releases the starches in the rice that will make it creamy later on. When the wine has soaked in, start adding the chicken stock little by little. Add some, wait until it soaks in, then add some more. Stir constantly, make sure the heat is low.

4. Melt butter in a small pot and add thickly chopped mushrooms. Let them sauté down a little, then add 1 tsp of the fresh thyme. Let sauté a little longer, and then add a dash of white wine. Toss in the turkey with the rest of the thyme and stir around.

5. Add the juice that’s accumulating in the mushroom pot to the risotto. 1 can of chicken broth isn’t quite enough, but this little bit of extra liquid seems to do the trick and marry the flavors rather well.

6. When the rice is creamy and not crunchy, add the parmesan, stir, and toss in the mushroom turkey mixture. Salt and pepper to taste (though I found that the chicken stock and parmesan were plenty salty enough).


This is a Wanderfood Wednesday post.