Chicken Risotto with Garlic Confit and Carrots

It's snowing outside. We haven't had any "real winter" here yet - the snow has come and gone, and it's mostly been cold, windy, rainy and sometimes slushy and icy. (Nice, huh?) And now, it's snowing again. I'm about to head out to the gym, and later, home for a nice snuggle with the kitties and watching Gilmore Girls. But first, let me tell you about this tasty risotto, that's just perfect for a winter's night. It's,like all risottos, very adaptable. Got wine? Great, throw it in! No? That's ok. Got leftover chicken? Perfect! No? Just dice and fry a chicken breast, or poach it. Anything works.

This is extra perfect if you've got some garlic confit like I told you about yesterday. If you don't, just use normal garlic, and normal olive oil. It'll still be very good, but it won't have the same sharp sweetness.

Chicken Risotto with Garlic Confit and Carrots
Serves 2

150 g of your favorite risotto rice
1 yellow onion
1 large chicken breast (or two small), cooked and diced
2-3 cloves of roasted garlic
olive oil (preferrably from the garlic confit)
1 glass of white wine, very optional
2 carrots, sliced thinly
1 litre (4 cups) of chicken stock
lemon
honey
chipotle chili sauce, or some other spicy condiment - tabasco is fine
big handful grated parmesan

Dice the onion. Sauté onion and garlic (no need to chop the roasted cloves, they melt quite nicely) in olive oil. Add the carrots and the rice, and let the rice brown a bit. Add a glass of wine if you'd like, and let it cook in completely.

Then proceed as usual, adding the stock one ladle at a time. Stir more or less constantly, and let the stock slowly melt into the rice. As soon as it looks dry, add more stock. Keep tasting - it'll take about 20 minutes. You might not use all the stock, and you might need more (just use hot water).

When it's pretty much done, add the chicken. Finally, stir in lemon, honey, chili sauce and parmesan, and balance the flavors between salty, hot, sour and sweet.

Recipe in Swedish:
Kycklingrisotto med morötter och rostad vitlök