Yesterday on my A Love Letter to Food Facebook page, I got a notification that read something like this: “You haven’t posted anything in five days. That means your followers haven’t heard from you in almost a week! Post now!!! (Or your readers will start to riot in the streets! Or jump off of bridges! Or you’ll be forever cast upon the trash heap of their minds!)” I may have embellished that last part. But it really kinda stressed me out. Like social media pressure has become the new peer pressure…and it’s not even from real people–it’s just a Facebook robot. “Keeping up with the blogging Joneses.” Thaaaaaaaanks, Facebook.
Anyway, this post is not a response to that nudge. (Or maybe, subconsciously, it is?) I’ve been wanting to share this summery risotto recipe for awhile. I knew it was good when my husband suggested I create a sidebar on the blog called “Husband-Approved Favorites” and put this on it. The man doesn’t even like shrimp and he literally ate the leftovers of this for breakfast. I was shocked. But I had to agree it was delicious–the mix of corn, tomato, and basil offering the flavor package of summer in a bowl. (The good kind of summer, like running-through-the-sprinklers-with-a-4th-of July-parade-rolling-by, not the get-me-out-of-this-face-melting-inferno kind we experience in Phoenix.)
So perhaps the timing of posting this risotto now is serendipitous, because it reminds me in the wake of Facebook robot peer pressure that, like risotto, good things take time. I’ve been on a blogging roll last month, but it’s probably not sustainable. I’m never going to be the kind of food blogger who posts five times a week. (Let’s face it, I can’t get my family to NOT eat that many things long enough to take pictures of them.) As much as I enjoy food blogging, I’m not ready for it to take over my life. There are more important things in life than giving to the pressures of Facebook/Pinterest/Twitter/OtherFoodBloggersAreCoolerThanYou.com. I can stand to go five days without posting on Facebook, and so can my (small group of) readers. So thanks for reading, whoever you may be, and give this recipe a try when you’re feeling summery–in a good way.
Tomato-Corn Risotto with Shrimp
Ingredients:
6 c. vegetable broth, low-sodium preferred
2 Tbsp. butter
1 small onion, diced
1 1/2 c. arborio rice
1/2 c. dry white wine
1 1/2 c. frozen corn, thawed
shrimp
1 1/2 c. grape tomatoes, quartered
3 Tbsp. fresh basil, chiffonaded
1 Tbsp. olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 Tbsp. heavy cream
Directions:
1. In a saucepan, heat vegetable broth over medium-low heat until warm.
2. Meanwhile, melt butter in a large, deep skillet over medium heat. Add onion and sauté about 3 minutes until translucent. Add rice and stir to coat with the butter. Pour in the wine and cook, stirring, until liquid is absorbed, about 1 minute.
3. Ladle about 2 c. of the warmed broth into the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid is absorbed, about 3-5 minutes. Continue ladling broth into rice mixture about 3/4 c. at a time, cooking 3-5 minutes after each addition and continuing to stir occasionally, until liquid is absorbed. Add corn and shrimp to the skillet with the final addition of broth.
4. While the rice is simmering, combine grape tomatoes, olive oil, basil, salt, and pepper in a small bowl.
5. After final addition of broth is absorbed, add Parmesan and cream to the skillet and stir until cheese is melted. Remove from heat and fold in the tomato-basil mixture. Top with any additional basil and serve immediately.
Serves 5.
