FRIDAY NIGHT DINNER spinach and wild salmon risotto

  
      I am actually cooking meals again!  Are you as thrilled as I am to see healthy greens and salmon instead of another dessert?  Whenever I have a small piece of salmon left over from a previous meal, this risotto is often what I will make.  If using fresh, uncooked salmon, cube and toss it into the risotto when there's about 2 minutes of cooking time remaining.  If you have leftover  salmon (baked, poached, roasted or grilled) add it right at the end, just before taking the pot off the heat.
      Risotto isn't a dish I usually serve in the summer, with the exception of the Summer Tomato Risotto I make using heirloom tomatoes from my garden.  By the time tomatoes are ready in Minnesota, a bowl of risotto on a summer's evening will taste very, very good!  This summer so far, it's been rainy without much heat.  I can't recall many days, other than the one freaky day we hit 103˚in early June, that it's been uncomfortable in my kitchen with cooktop burners ablaze.  So, risotto is still on the menu in my house, and Spinach and Wild Salmon Risotto has always been one of my family's favorites.
     

                             Spinach and Wild Salmon Risotto

• 6+ cups of organic or homemade chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup finely diced onion
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 1/2 cups arborio rice
• 10 ounces frozen spinach, thawed, and puréed in a food processor until smooth
• 3/4 to 1 cup fresh or pre-cooked wild salmon cubed and all bones removed
• freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1.  Heat the chicken broth in a medium saucepan and keep warm over low heat.
2.  In a large, heavy saucepan, over medium-low heat, melt the butter.  Add the olive oil the diced onion.  Cook the onion until softened and translucent. Add the arborio rice and stir until all of the grains of rice are covered in the butter and oil.
3.  Pour the wine into the pan and stir until the wine is absorbed by the rice.  Begin adding broth 1/2 cup at a time when almost all the broth has been absorbed, stirring constantly.  The entire process will take about 20 minutes.  When the rice is almost done, stir in the puréed spinach.  If using raw salmon, add it now.  If you have left-over, cooked salmon, add it just as you pull the rice mixture off the heat.
4.  Taste and add salt as needed.  Transfer the risotto to bowls and top with freshly grated Parmesan.  Risotto is shown with my No-Knead Baguettes, recipe here.

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