Chicken oat risotto

Don’t let looks deceive you – this unappetizing-looking steel cut oat “risotto” is actually quite tasty! I’ve had an oat risotto recipe from healthy flax.org for a long time but hadn’t gotten around to trying it, until I happened upon a turkey risotto recipe from Taste of Home while looking for leftover turkey recipes. So what could I do but combine them? As a big fan of whole grains, I liked the idea of using steel cut oats rather than white rice in this recipe, but I’m sure arborio rice would taste great (and look prettier), if that’s your preference…or what you have in the pantry.

The trick to making risotto is to have the ingredients prepped and the broth hot, because you’re going to be standing and stirring constantly once the grain is added. Be prepared!

I used peas and mushrooms in my recipe, but I honestly think just about any vegetable would taste great. The recipe would also work well with any leftover protein, simply by adjusting the seasonings added as needed (although thyme, rosemary, garlic, and onion work well with just about anything). I made mine with chicken.

My combination of the two recipes went something like this:

Chicken Oat Risotto

Ingredients:

3-3½ cups low-sodium broth (I used chicken)

1 Tbsp olive oil

2 cups fresh mushrooms, sliced

1 small onion, diced

1 garlic clove, minced

1 cup steel cut oats

½ cup frozen baby peas, thawed

1 Tbsp fresh or 1 tsp dried herbs, such as rosemary, thyme, parsley, sage, dill, etc.

1-1½ cups cooked poultry, meat, fish, tofu, etc.

1 Tbsp nutritional yeast

Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1.      In a small saucepan, heat broth to a simmer; keep hot.

2.      In a medium pan, heat olive oil and sauté mushrooms for 1-2 minutes. (Alternatively, mushrooms can be sautéed separately and added with the peas in step 7.)

3.      Add onion and garlic and sauté for another 1-2 minutes.

4.      Add oats and cook, stirring, for about 3 minutes or until the grain has started to toast and smells nutty.

5.      Add ½ cup hot broth, stirring constantly until the liquid has absorbed.

6.      Repeat with another ½ cup hot broth and continue repeating until you’ve added all of the broth. Grain should be al dente (cooked but firm).

7.      Add peas and herbs and heat through.

8.      Remove from heat and stir in nutritional yeast, salt, and pepper.

9.      Serve immediately.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this recipe, and as I mentioned, its appearance wasn’t exactly encouraging, but I was pleasantly surprised by the flavor and comfort-food-feel of the dish. I had confirmation from another source as well: my 20-year-old son, after eying his bowl suspiciously, took a bite and proclaimed, “this is good!”