adesso noi mangiamo! now we eat!

No, I didn't go back to Italy, but I do have a fantastic Italian roommate. 

Here in Vienna I share a 'flat' with 4 other girls. 2 from Calgary, Canada, and 2 from Russia. A good combination I must say.

Let me describe some of the many benefits of flatmate's. 

1 - they let you throw in your whites with theirs, to save time and money on laundry.

2 - there is a wide variety of music, playing at any given time.

3 - you can share things like salt and coffee filters.

4 - there is often someone to accompany you to a party across town, and take the ride home with you.

5 - you have a huge variety of teas.

6 - travel buddies.

7 - some like to cook.. :D

When Jackie and  hang out, it almost ALWAYS involves food.

For me, someone who strongly dislikes cooking, and is quite bad at it, a flatmate that shares her natural talents and joy of cooking is like hitting the jackpot. I have had so many new, strange and delicious foods just within the four walls of this flat. Everything from fried cheese to Russian bagel bites, you name it. 


Just this week, a fellow flatmate from Calgary took it upon herself to test out a new recipe for Risotto. Now, before this encounter, I have only ever had Risotto in restaurants, and from Uncle Ben's line of 'Fast and Fancy' side dishes. Of course I wanted to try some homemade!! Acquiring this recipe, and a box of rice earlier this semester, Jacqueline easily mastered the technique, and I was lucky enough to be home when she offered it to me. 
Obviously the result blew Uncle Ben out of the water.


After stuffing my face, Jackie herself gave me the idea to include the experience in this blog. (Thank you Ms. Jacqueline!) She jotted down some names, dug out the recipe, and gave me a run down of how she did it (and how easy it was for her.. I haven't tried myself yet.) SO, for all you chef's out there who have never made Risotto- I have included the epic recipe from this week. One day back in Canada I will certainly experiment with this again.  


Risotto! (with additional ingredients of your choosing).


Ingredients:


2 handfuls of Arborio Rice per person (rice with a high starch content)
leak (as much as you want)
garlic (as much as you want)
olive oil (as much as you want)
white wine (about 1 glass, or, as much as you want)
salt and pepper to taste
finish with Parmesan


PLUS: anything you need to clean out of your fridge. (ie: zucchini, mushrooms, peas etc.) 

1 - Boil one pot of hot water and put the green part of the leek in the water, with salt.
2 - Heat olive oil and put the white part of the leek in, chopped. As it goes transparent, put 2 handfuls of rice in per person. (so, 4 handfuls for 2 people, and so on :P)
3 - Add a little bit of white wine (a glass or so)
4 - Keep stirring until water absorbs and add hot water from first pot, pour in little by little.
5 - Taste until you like it (supposed to be be cooked and tender).
6 - Finish with Parmesan, salt and pepper

Ok, I forgot to take a picture. But here is one from Google that looks quite similar.

So, if you are not naturally gifted in just knowing what to do here, I would practice maybe once with someone who does know... I am not the kind of cook that can just whip something together and improvise- that doesn't EVER work for me. However, its the kind of recipe that you can play and experiment with. Jackie added everything from zucchini's to mushrooms in hers, and it was fantastic. I consider it a bit like stir fry, you throw in what you have and what's going bad.. a real fridge cleaner-upper.
So, if you're feeling ambitious, test it out! Let me know if it worked out just as amazingly as it did for Jackie.


I must now find a talent of my own to share with these girls.. because officially, cooking is NOT it. Thanks again to Jacqueline, I eat well when you're around.


until next time, shannon xx