Lemon Mushroom Risotto with Scallops

It's been a record now! I have not contributed towards my blog for the past 4 months and I feel sorry about it. I do not have enough excuse for this blunder but yeah I was busy giving exams (Yes, I cleared my PMP certification - deserve a pat on the back), roaming with parents and in-laws and getting pampered :). But yes, how could I forget about my baby (my blog) just because I am going to have a baby!?! So here is my latest creation :)
My husband and I are fans of Hell's Kitchen and inspired by Gordon Ramsay's Risotto I wanted to make Risotto too. I had tried once before and loved it. I didn't blog about it then and so I thought why not try it once again so that I can give correct measurements.

Although I would like to warn you about couple of things before making risotto:
1. It takes a lot of time and patience to make Risotto. Even though many websites and cook books say 25-30 minutes as cooking time, it takes at least 45 minutes (stirring constantly)
2. It is fattening - so if you are a health freak like me, just workout 1-2 hours more in the week but please do not try to reduce the amount of butter from the recipe (as I have already done so. Any less than this wouldn't taste good - tried that too)

I found this recipe behind the rice packet that I bought and I added my own taste to it to make it lime n lemony.

Ingredients: 
Arborio rice - 1.5 cups
Vegetable/chicken broth - 6 cups
White wine - 1/4 cup (optional)
Mushrooms, sliced - 2 cups
Onions, chopped - 1 medium
Garlic, minced - 3 cloves
Parsley, chopped - 2 tspn
Parmesan Cheese - 3 tbspn
Butter - 4 tbspn
Lemon Juice - 3 tbspn


Procedure: 

1. Keep the broth on the stove on medium heat till it boils.
2. In the mean time, saute mushrooms in 1 tbspn till soft and keep it aside to cool. 
3. Now saute the onions and garlic in the rest of the butter till translucent. Then add the rice to the onion-garlic mixture. Mix it well for a minute or so.
4. On medium heat, add the white wine and stir it till the wine is absorbed by the rice. In similar fashion, start adding 1/2 cup broth at a time and cook till all the broth is absorbed by the rice, stirring occasionally so that the rice doesn't stick.to the bottom. 
5. Repeat the above step till the rice is cooked al dente. Personally, I like it cooked a little more than al dente.
6. Now, add the mushroom, Parmesan cheese, lemon juice and parsley, mix well and serve with scallops.

Variations: 
You can modify this recipe in many ways - get rid of lemon, add herbs etc.

Conclusion:
The Mushroom Lemon Risotto with Cajun scallops turned out really yummy. Even the baby was dancing with happiness :)

Kuchh Meetha Ho Jaye - The Announcement Time!!!

It was a ’Kuchh Meetha Ho Jaaye’ (‘Let’s have Dessert’) night and I invited a few of our close friends over. I had made Bread pudding, Rice kheer/pudding and Banana Walnut Cake Pops. We had also planned to play Taboo in which we had added a wild card which read ‘Yummy Yummy, Baby in SU’s Tummy’ (In case you don’t know, Su is my nick name and yes, I am expecting!!!) and the person who gets the card will enact it and the rest (of course excluding myself and my husband) will guess it.

 

No one had an idea that we were gonna break the big news to them as I was just two and half months through. They all came and enjoyed the bread pudding (In the meantime, I was decorating the cake pops with something related to the news) and then we started playing taboo. I wanted one of the girls to get the wild card so that it is easy for them to enact. But to my surprise, she did not get the message. First of all, she couldn’t digest the fact that there is a wild card in Taboo and secondly, she went to Syracuse University (SU) and hence read the ‘SU’ part as Syracuse University (even she knows it didn’t make sense but she was in the mood to win the game). So she tried to enact it and everyone could guess everything other than my name. Finally, it clicked to one of my friends and she hugged me screaming "She is pregnant, guys!" It was then clear to everyone that we are expecting and they connected the dots like I am not drinking any more, I didn't go to play paintball, etc. Everyone was shocked to hear the news (I think they never thought we would want to have kids :)). Then everyone wished us and I introduced the cake pops with Jr. Su / Jr. Ram written on them. All the girls were asking me questions and a friend's mom had come as well and she was very impressed with the way we broke the news. It was a night to remember!!! (for us and for the friend who thought SU was Syracuse University and not SUJATA)