Vegetable Risotto & Queso Fundido

 

Vegetable Risotto & Queso Fundido

One of my favorite restaurants in San Francisco, Credo, served the most delicious pineapple queso fundido last spring. The menu is always changing, as the local and season ingredients are doing as well, and this item is no longer available on the menu. I have been thinking about it for a while, and Riley has been jonesing for it as well. Today, it seemed like a perfect day to make it. My obsession with cooking magazines, and magazines in general, has been putting me behind in recipes. Every month I get a new magazine, I seem to forget about the thousand other things I saw in the previous month's issue that I wanted to make. My most recent Bon Appétit magazine had a queso fundido recipe, so it was decided. 

I wanted to put some kind of meat in mine, so I made my main dish vegetarian. I also wanted to put in a habañero to add some heat, and now regret every time I touch my eyes or mouth, because it leaves a deathly and fiery hot sensation that lingers for minutes.

My recipe is different than the original, so I will put mine on here but I'm sure you can find the original online. In fact, hold on one second. I am going to see if it's online...Yup, OK, you can find it here.

The whole dinner took about an hour to make, and it was too good. I don't suggest making this recipe for only two people, because there is a plethora of cheese left, so invite a crowd and get down on some cheesy goodness. (My god, do I ever have a recipe that doesn't involve cheese?...To be further investigated)

Vegetable Risotto

Ingredients:

4 cups chicken broth or water

1 cup arborio rice

2 tablespoons butter

1 zucchini, cut and quartered

1 broccoli floret, cut into small pieces

8 salad tomatoes (they look like normal tomatoes but are smaller. Cherry tomatoes are even smaller. Salad tomatoes are medium sized

Freshly shaved Parmesan for garnish, if desired

Directions:

1. Heat butter in medium-large sized saucepan over medium-high heat. Add rice and cook until the rice is lightly toasted. In the meantime, preheat oven (or toaster oven) to 350 degrees

2. Working in 1/2 cup increments, add the chicken broth or water to the rice, continuously stirring. This should take about 30 minutes total

3. While the risotto is cooking, place your vegetables in a double steamer (or just scrappy like me- I put mine in a colander and place that over a pot of boiling water) and cook until soft

4. As the rice starts to absorb the liquid, you can add your steamed vegetables

5. Top risotto with freshly grated Parmesan and tomatoes that have been slow roasting in your oven

Queso Fundido

Ingredients:

1 baguette (or if you're real nasty, I suppose you can just eat it by the spoonful)

1/2 yellow onion

6 oz Fontina cheese, shredded

6 oz jalapeño jack cheese, shredded

1 habañero pepper

1/2 cup lager

1/2 cup packaged chorizo

1 tablespoon flour

Directions:

1. Caramelize onions in a saucepan over medium-high heat

2. Meanwhile, toss both cheeses with flour in a medium bowl

3. Cook chorizo in a medium saucepan over medium heat, breaking up with a wooden spoon, until it begins to render, about 1 minute. Add onion, habañero, and pineapple and continue cooking until chorizo is cooked

4. Transfer chorizo mixture to a small bowl; return saucepan to heat. Add beer; simmer, stirring occasionally and scraping up any browned bits

5. Whisking constantly, add cheese mixture a 1/4 cupful at a time, allowing it to become blended and smooth between additions. Stir in chorizo and pineapple mixture

6. To really pull everything together, I broiled my pan for about 5 minutes to make a crisp top for the cheese, but that isn't necessary if you are impatient and don't want to wait 5 more minutes to eat this delicious heart attack on a plate