Taste & Create: Savory Strawberry Risotto

Today's post is part of a very fun blog event, Taste and Create, hosted by For the Love of Food. Nicole randomly pairs food bloggers and we have the fun task of creating a tasty dish from our partner's blog.

Photo Taken Indoors

For my first adventure, I've been matched with Rosella from Ma che ti sei mangiato, a lovely blog based in Italy. Armed with the wonders of the Internet, Babel Fish provided me with a rough & sometimes confusing translation of Rosella's amazing looking dishes. Technology's not perfect quite yet! Loving Italian food, I enjoyed perusing all of her creations and finally settled upon one that is traditionally Italian though one new to me: Strawberry Risotto.

As a lover of strawberries, I've had them in nearly every form: bread, muffins, pie, shortcakes, and tarts. Could strawberries be savory? Or, would the dish be more like a dessert? I had to know!

Adapting from Rosella's post, here's the steps I followed to create this tasty dish. The risotto is certainly savory with just a hint of the berries. If you weren't told strawberries were hiding in there, you'd probably never know. The risotto would go wonderfully with a big glass of white wine. You might as well finish off the wine bottle you opened to make the risotto!

Thanks Rosella. I had a great time learning some Italian words :)

Photo taken outdoors...what a color difference!

Risotto Alle Fragole, Strawberry Risotto
2 tablespoons butter or extra virgin olive oil (Olio extra vergine d'oliva)
1 small shallot (scalogno)
1 cup risotto rice (riso)
4 cups vegetable broth (brodo vegetale)
1 glass white wine (vino blanco) - I used a little more than 1/2 cup of white wine
4-8 strawberries (fragole)
cream (panna da cucina) -- I used a few pats of butter

1. Bring the broth to a boil. Turn heat down until its simmering.
2. Wash and hull strawberries. Lightly crush them if you have a mortar & pestle. I don't, so I sent them through the food processor a few times.

3. Saute shallots in olive oil or butter over medium heat. Don't allow to brown.
4. Add rice and toss to ensure all grains are covered by butter or oil.
5. Pour in the wine and let it reduce, meanwhile continue to stir to prevent rice from sticking.
6. Pour 1-2 ladles of the broth onto the rice and allow to reduce (until nearly dry) before adding 2 additional ladles. Allow to reduce and add strawberries.
7. Continue to add ladles of broth until the rice is cooked and liquid is absorbed.
8. If using cream, take pot off the heat and stir in.