Mushroom Celery Risotto

This isn't the first time I've cooked since my last post, but the efforts in between were a replay of my ratatouille and a batch of jambalaya that I forgot to photograph before storing the leftovers in the freezer.   It was time to cook again when I realized the leftovers were all gone.

I decided on this because I had some celery in the fridge that I was tired of looking at.  It's a lot like my spinach risotto except for the celery and mushrooms.  The recipe was as follows:

2 tbsp olive oil
5-6 celery stalks with leaves, chopped
3 cloves garlic
8 oz. frozen sliced mushrooms, thawed (undrained)
1 cup arborio rice
3 cups chicken broth
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1-2 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Heat the olive oil in a 2 qt saucepan over medium heat.  Add the celery and garlic and cook until the celery is tender, about 8-10 minutes.  Add thawed mushrooms with liquid and stir well.  Add rice to the vegetable mixture and stir; cook for 2 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring chicken broth to a boil.  After completing the above steps, begin adding the broth, one cup at a time, to the vegetable and rice mixture.  With each cup, stir well and add the next cup once all the liquid has been absorbed by the rice.  Continue until rice has absorbed all the broth.  Add nutmeg and pepper and stir.  Grate the Parmesan over the risotto and stir well to melt.

This dinner was right on time.  Most of my "dinners" this week have been snacks in front of the TV, and I was ready to eat a real meal.  Steve seemed happy about it too, and I'm especially happy to have leftovers for tomorrow's lunch.  If you have any celery and no idea what to do with it, give this a try!