Fresh Corn, Tomato, and Basil Risotto

Thursday July 24

A perfect dish from New Joy, especially when maybe you've gone a tad overboard on the corn.

The New York Times gaves it as follows:

Adapted from the new ''Joy of Cooking''
Total time: 40 minutes

1 cup ripe tomatoes, seeded, peeled and diced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 cups chicken stock
2 cups corn cut from 4 or 5 large ears
2 tablespoons butter, preferably unsalted
1/2 cup finely chopped scallions, white part only
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice or American medium-grain rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Grated Parmesan cheese.

1. Combine tomatoes, basil, lime juice and salt. Bring stock to simmer. Puree 1 cup of corn in food processor. Heat butter in large saucepan or skillet over medium heat until foam subsides, then add scallions, stirring until they are translucent, about 5 minutes. Add rice, and stir to coat it with butter before adding wine. Cook, stirring until absorbed.
2. Add 1 cup of chicken stock, and cook, stirring over medium-low heat until stock is absorbed. Add remaining stock, 1/2 cup at a time, reserving at least 1/2 cup for Step 3. Cook and stir until liquid is almost completely absorbed before adding more. Continue until rice is almost tender, about 15 minutes.
3. Stir in pureed corn with another 1/2 cup of stock. Continue to cook, stirring and adding stock as needed until rice is al dente, 5 to 10 minutes more. Stir in corn kernels and fresh tomato mixture. Season with salt and pepper, spoon into warmed soup bowls, and sprinkle each serving with grated Parmesan cheese.
Yield: 4 servings.
Approximate nutritional analysis per serving: 520 calories, 12 grams fat, 30 milligrams cholesterol, 370 milligrams sodium, 15 grams protein, 90 grams carbohydrate.

The recipe is given here in a nice blog with some pretty pictures.


There are five points to this dish:

1) Marinate the tomatoes with lime and basil beforehand. You're essentially making a salata caprese hybridized with a tomato salsa.

2) Make a nice risotto however the heck you like. We used the last of the smoked duck broth, a little wine, and lots of water.
By the way, we often just dump a frozen berg of stock into the risotto pan. At low heat it melts at just about the same rate as it is absorbed by the rice and Less Work for Mother.

3) When the risotto is almost done, stir in the whirled up corn. It's got a lot of starch and will crisp or burn if added too early. This I think is a skipable step, but a nice touch.

4) At the very end stir in the salad.

5) No dam' cheese. What are you crazy? You got something that fresh, you're not going to muck up the flavors with cheese.

The pure essence of summer.