Sweet Risotto

Few things say warm and cozy like a hot bowl of risotto. Add vanilla, cream, sugar, and chocolat and one all but melts into spoiled comfort. The other day, I returned home early from work because of inclement weather. Snow, all four inches of it. I still had work to do, but needed a little snack to coax me into getting my work done. I looked through the pantry, saw Arborio rice and immediately remember the delightful "White Chocolat Vanilla Bean Risotto" I often enjoyed at a restaurant I frequented while in graduate school -- Café Bacchus.  There, the chef would embellish the dessert with decadent white chocolat. My pantry was fresh out of white chocolat. I could not bear to part with my last four ounces of Scharffen Berger chocolat on a comfort dish. I would have to make do without. Below is the receipt I was able to approximate with great results.

• • Vanilla Bean Risotto 
    
  • 
    
  • Ingredients:
    
  • 
    
  • 3 cups organic whole fat milk
    
  • 1 cup organic whipping cream, plus 1 Tbs. 
    
  • 1/4 cup caster sugar
    
  • 2 vanilla beans, split lengthwise
    
  • 2 Tbs. real butter
    
  • 1 cup Arborio or Carnaroli rice
    
  • Pinch of salt
    
  • 1 Tbs. real maple syrup

  
  

  Method:

  
  1.    Place milk into a saucepan. Scrape seeds from vanilla beans into the milk, then add the bean to the milk. Heat the milk until very hot, but do not bring to a boil. Add the cream heat and for an additional five minutes. Remove the bean and add the sugar. Reduce heat to low, continue heating but do not boil the milk.
  2.    Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium-high. Add the rice, stirring until the rice is well coated. Continue stirring about two minutes more. Reduce the heat to medium.
  3.    Add 1 cup of the hot milk mixture to rice and stir until the liquid is absorbed. Keep the rice mixture on a low constant simmer.  Continue to add 1/2 cup of the milk mixture at a time, stirring often, until the milk is absorbed and rice is tender and creamy.  This process should take approximately 30 minutes. Begin tasting for desired "doneness" after twenty minutes of cooking, if you prefer your rice grains with a slight bite - al dente.
  4.    Add the butter and salt once you have reached the desired consistency and stir well to incorporate.
  5.    Spoon the risotto into warmed bowls. Top with 1 Tbs. of warmed cream or the maple syrup. For a variation: after spooning the risotto into the bowls, insert chunks of good quality chocolate, white or dark, into the risotto and top off with more hot risotto. Shave some chocolat over the mixture to garnish. The melted chocolat within provides a pleasant surprise as you spoon through the delicious bowl of sweet risotto. Enjoy!