Comfort Food

It is hard to go back to school after you have been out in the workplace. First of all, there is the money; going from having quite a bit of income and little debt to quite a bit of debt and little income is a hard adjustment. Especially when you have a weakness for organic raspberries and Lodge cast iron pans. But I digress.
Second, there are the grades. When I first graduated from college and went to work at a business research firm, it came as something of a shock that I wasn't going to get specific, concrete feedback on every project I completed. Sometimes, I would send off a report or a brief off into the ether, never to be heard from again.
After a while, I realized that sometimes the work itself was testiment enough - or the "thank you thank you!" emails that I got back from clients. Whether I got good feedback or bad feedback or no feedback at all, I never equated my performance with a sense of self-worth or with my ability to do the job. And, if I got negative feedback, there was almost always an opportunity to fix the project or please the client in another way because the relationships were iterated - it was never a one-shot deal.
After two and a half years of that, I am now back in an environment where everything gets feedback and the feedback that matters most is a set of little letters that say very little about what, if anything, one could do better. To top off the absurdity of the situation, the grades are on a curve, which means it doesn't matter how well I did on my own - it matters how well I did compared to other people, compared to my friends and colleagues against whom I would really rather not compete. And, while I've done just fine (knock on wood - one grade still to come!) in my classes, I've certainly talked to friends who are now questioning their decision to go to law school and/or whether they "deserve" to be at the law school we attend (a relatively prestigious one, as these things go). And that, my friends, is crap. How well you did on a 3-hour, open-book exam has practically no correlation to how well you will practice law.
All this by way of saying that I need a little comfort food at the moment. And, when I'm talking comfort food, I want (a) starch and (b) cheese. Now, when I was younger, that meant Ledo's pizza or a grilled cheese sandwich. However, as my foodie-ness has evolved, so has my comfort food.
My latest comfort food is risotto. I love the way it requires a bit of patience - if you try and make it fast, it doesn't turn out right. And, I love the way that it can have different personalities depending on the veggies one adds. So, here is my basic recipe with three veggie variations.
P.S. I promise that, true to the blog name, I will eventually write an entry that involves kosher meat. I just don't eat much of it - so I have to come up with something great.
Comfort Food Risotto
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tbsn olive oil (or 1 tbsn olive oil and 1 tbsn butter)
1 cup Arborio or Carnolini rice
2 cubes vegetarian bouillon or 1 20-oz container vegetable stock
Pinch saffron threads, gently crumbled
kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
1/3 cup kosher Parmesan or Romano cheese
1/2 cup kosher dry white wine
Add-ins as discussed below.
1. In a medium saucepan, and following the directions on the package, dissolve bouillon cubes in water (or pour broth into saucepan) and bring to a simmer.
2. Meanwhile, over medium-high heat, saute onions in oil (or oil and butter) until fragrant and beginning to brown. Add garlic and saute about 30 seconds. Add rice and toss to coat rice with oil-onion mixture. Stir around for 1-2 minutes.
3. Pour in wine and cook, stirring regularly (once every minute or so), until wine is absorbed. Reduce heat slightly to medium.
4. Ladle in about 1 1/2 cups stock and, stirring regularly until broth is absorbed. Repeat. Test the rice to check how done it is. Continue adding broth and stirring until rice is tender but still slightly toothy. Ladle in about 1/2 cup more broth (remember, the rice will continue to cook and absorb for a bit after you take it off the heat) and add most of the cheese, reserving a small amount for garnish. Add salt and pepper to taste (remember, both broth and cheese are salty - do not add salt before tasting!).
5. Serve warm, topped with remaining cheese.
Add-in Combo 1: 1/3 cup dried mushrooms OR 1 1/2 cup chopped fresh mushrooms, such as cremini, AND 1 cup frozen green peas. If using dried mushrooms, break them up slightly and add to broth as it's heating. When the mushrooms are soft, add them to onions/garlic when sauteeing and proceeding with recipe. When the risotto is almost done, stir in the peas (can even be done after the risotto is finished cooking, so long as you do not serve it that very second).
Add-in Combo 2: 1 large bunch asparagus, divided, washed and cut into 2" pieces (or, if cheating, 1 cup frozen asparagus pieces, such as those from TJ's). Saute half of asparagus with the onions. Add remaining half when ladling in the second cup of stock. The first half of the asparagus should sort of fall apart into the sauce, whereas the second half should be crisp-tender.
Add-in Combo 3: 1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded and diced into 1/2" pieces (again, if cheating, 1 pkg pre-diced butternut squash pieces), 1 pkg fresh sage leaves, washed and finely chopped, and a tsp brown sugar. Add squash, sugar and sage in with the onions and cook as directed.