Red Wine Risotto

I've made risotto with some success in the past, so I thought it would be a good addition to the Osso Bucco I was preparing for dinner tonight. I usually make this with chicken broth and white wine, with some Parmesan cheese added at the end. One problem...I don't have any chicken broth today. Or any white wine for that matter. I do have beef broth and red wine though...so we're going to experiment.

Melt some butter in a pan and add some minced onion. I used about 3 tablespoons. Make it easy on yourself, grab some chopped frozen onion and then just mince that. Let it saute until translucent and add the rice. You're not trying to brown the rice here, you just want to get a good coating of butter and let it heat up a little. Add 1/3 cup of red wine. Stir it in and let it absorb completely. Then start adding your beef broth. You want to have at least 2 cups of broth simmering as you're preparing this. You want to add the hot broth a little at a time, stir, let it absorb, then repeat. It a process but it's worth it. You have to keep stirring. That's how your rice will get that creamy texture. If the rice is not soft enough when your broth is gone, use hot water. I usually put a cup in the microwave during my last 5 minutes or so, just in case. In today's instance, I used a full cup of water after my 2 cups of beef broth.

Remove from heat and add your cheese. A half a cup can be a bit much, so you may want to start with a quarter cup and increase if you so desire.

I was really pleased with how this came out tasting. It looks weird due to the purple wine and the brown broth, but it tastes quite good!