Happy New Year!!! I hope you all had a fantastic night! Hope there aren’t too many hangovers this morning 
Mike and I had a low-key night, but it was wonderful! I actually spent ALL of the morning and afternoon doing a top-to-bottom cleaning of the condo (we hadn’t cleaned since we put up the Christmas decorations on November 1st!!) which was a nice chore to get done. Then, Mike serenaded me on the guitar (meaning, as a beginner, he strummed the first three cords of Green Day’s Wake me up when September Ends over and over) and we made dinner together!
We were so excited to break open what was my FAVORITE bottle that we brought back from our trip to Napa last month – a Moscato D’Oro from Robert Mondavi.
It was soooo delightfully sweet (that’s my kinda wine!) with hints of honeysuckle and peach. It was a slender bottle so sadly it wasn’t enough for the whole night, but we polished this off while cooking dinner!
Mike had requested scallops, so we prepared them simply by marinading them in butter and lemon juice and broiling them for 7 minutes. He claims they were great, but I can’t imagine that they were able to hold a candle to my RISOTTO!!!!
Seriously guys, this risotto was out of this world. I haven’t made risotto since going vegan and in my quest to make a creamy risotto sans parmesan, I came up with the idea to add coconut milk…. what an awesome idea this was!! The coconut milk made it intensely creamy, decadent, and delicious.
Champagne Risotto with Clamshell Mushrooms, Pine Nuts, and Coconut:
Ingredients: 1/2 c. pinenuts, 4 oz. clamshell mushrooms, garlic, 1 small onion, 5 c. vegetable broth, 1 can light coconut milk, 1/4 c. unsweetened coconut flakes, 1 1/2 c. arborio rice, 1/3 c. champagne, salt, and pepper
* First, toast 1/2 c. pinenuts
* Then loosely chop 4 oz. (one container) of clamshell mushrooms. I’m sure any mushrooms would be fine, but I love clamshell – I’ve only had them in fancy restaurants, thus they always make meals seem luxury when I cook with with them!
* Finely chop one small onion
* In a small or medium saucepan, heat up 5 c. of vegetable broth
* Add 1-2 T. EVOO to a hot pan, then add the onion and mushrooms. You can add garlic at this point if you like, too – I didn’t have any fresh so I just added about a tsp. of garlic powder
* After a few minutes when the onion becomes translucent, add in 1 1/2 c. of arborio rice
* After 1 minute, add 1/4 c. unsweetened coconut flakes
* Begin to add in the veggie broth + 1 c. of light coconut milk, about 1 c. at a time
* Just like any standard risotto recipe, after you add in a cup of liquid continue to stir the risotto over low to medium heat until the rice absorbs the liquid before adding more in
* Early on also add 1/3 c. champagne
* Add salt and pepper to taste – I used about 1/2 tsp. pepper and 2 tsp. salt because I like-ee my salt
* Toward the end when you are almost done adding the liquid, stir in the pine nuts
Guys, I can’t stop talking or thinking about this risotto!! I think I drove Mike nuts by singing its praises the entire time we ate it. The coconut milk makes this dish sooo velevetty and it was just outstanding. Please give it a shot!
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Now I’m falling asleep while watching the new Star Trek movie so I’m about to go hit the hay…. I’ll be back soon to post my Plans for 2010. Happy New Year!!
I'm a school social worker who is also a newlywed (and had a Big Fat Greek Wedding, no less!) living in Chicago. I am starting this blog to talk about the training process I will go through to prepare for the Chicago Marathon, while also raising awareness for Ceasefire, a Chicago anti-violence program.
Your risotto sounds sooo good! I <3 coconut milk, it makes everything super creamy (and tastes good obviously
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Happy New Year!
You had me at Champagne! I’m going to pick up the items I need to make this dish and try it out tomorrow.
That risotto looks incredible! What a unique and interesting recipe too.
Happy New Year!
that is going straight into my recipe file- looks delish!
happy new year to you, my favourite Chicagoian!
looks amazing! i am so afraid to try and make risotto
That looks so rich and luxurious, thank you for the recipe. I can’t wait to give it a try. Happy New Year!
I love risotto!! I can’t wait to try this!
[...] Biz for passing the torch! Since I have been pretty much obsessed with mushrooms ever since making Champagne Risotto with Clamshell Mushrooms, Pine Nuts, and Coconut a few weeks ago, I decided to make MUSHROOMS the ingredient of the week! While mushrooms are [...]
whoa! 4 months later i finally made it! AMAZING!!
[...] dish to make for a dinner party since it is so time-intensive. But I really wanted to make my Champagne Risotto with Clamshell Mushrooms, Pine Nuts, and Coconut – one of my favorite [...]