Breakfast Risotto

BREAKFAST CHALLENGE!

What do you make when the gauntlet is thrown for breakfast?? I was all out of ideas until a colleague, henceforth known as "The Breakfast Master" came up with not one, but two awesome ideas.

The second idea was the one I took to the challenge - a breakfast risotto, cooked with warm milk and desert wine rather than stock and a dry white. It's similar to a rice pudding but ideally has the slightly al dente texture of risotto, as well as having a more complex taste.

This version used a berry compote as a topping, but you could just as easily do stewed rhubarb or anything else that has that a tart taste to balance the sweetness of the risotto.

INGREDIENTS

1 bottle of desert wine (I used Botrytis Semillon)
300g of Arborio rice
1.5 liters of full cream milk
1 Tablespoon of butter
2 vanilla pods
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of nutmeg
100g of Castor sugar
30ml brandy or sweet sherry
250g mixed berries
2 egg yolks whisked


METHOD

First up, you need to talk up your recipe for at least a week. Bold promises of the best breakfast ever are good, and you might not want to reveal exactly what you're making for the best impact when you pull out the rice.

This recipe works exactly like a normal risotto but I'll run through it regardless. First of all you need to prep the milk. Split the vanilla pods and scrape the seeds into the milk along with the cinnamon, 2/3 of the sugar and half a teaspoon of nutmeg. Bring slowly to just below the boil stirring frequently... try to avoid the milk forming a skin as it will absorb the vanilla. If you are going to add brandy/sherry this is when you do it. Once it's hot, turn it off the heat.

Now heat a shallow pan to a medium temperature and add the butter. Once it has melted and started to brown, add the rice and stir well until coated. Toast the rice in the pan for about two minutes, stirring frequently so it doesn't burn. Add 150ml of the desert wine, and cook off before turning the heat to low. Next add a ladle of the milk stirring so it's absorbed into the rice. Once it's all absorbed, add another ladle... and repeat for about 30-45 minutes. If you run out of milk heat some more before you add it! Yes, this bit is boring so you might need some spoon thralls to help.

Boring!

Towards the end of the process you'll need the berry compote. This is a recipe in itself, but I'm going to let you in on a cheaty, cheaty secret. It's double cheaty because it saves you time and money. The double cheaty secret is this: Get some frozen berries and leave them in the fridge overnight. The thing with frozen berries, and what makes them unsuitable for pretty much anything other than compote is that they release heaps of water when they thaw. But that's what we want when we're making a compote - so put the mixture into a thick based saucepan and heat on a medium heat. Add the sugar and let it reduce for a bit. You'll need to check this yourself, depending on the berries it may be to sweet (add lemon juice) or too tart (add sugar).

Compoting

By now the risotto should be ready - the rice will be soft on the outside but still a bit firm in the middle.... not crunchy though. If you haven't added the brandy previously I'd add about 150ml more desert wine here. Add the eggs and stir quickly, this will bind the mixture. Put in ramekins, grate some fresh nutmeg on top and spoon the berry compote over the whole thing. If there is any desert wine left, serve it with the finished risotto. Desert wine for breakfast? Give me one good reason why not :)

The finished product

Cmon, one good reason...

And what was the Breakfast Master's other recipe? More on that next time... and a big thank you to MT and KJ for the photos for this recipe - a lot better than my usual mobile phone ones (a photography journal this aint!)