[what's cookin'] Risotto Milanese or Food and Gaming

I currently am running a group of players through the Call of Cthulhu campaign, Horror on the Orient Express.  It's part of our usual Monday Night gaming group, so we only get together about once a month to play my game.  As such, I do sometimes look for ways to make the night memorable outside of just what happens in the game, itself.

One such way is to look at ways to incorporate snacks and drinks into the setting.  Since the Investigators are traveling across 1920s Europe, I've done things like bring tea and sandwiches, themed cocktails, and the like.

The party just entered Milan during the last session and while I had hoped to have had some sort of Milanese snack or similar to offer, I found myself too busy to put something together.  But the idea had not left my head even after the game session.

While digging around for typical Milanese delights, I found this recipe for risotto.  As I actually had all of the ingredients, or their vegan-friendly substitutions, on hand, I decided that I wanted to give it a try.  And oh! am I glad that I did.  It's delicious!

Vegan Risotto Milanese

Ingredients:

Olive or any mostly neutral-tasting oil

1 large onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice

salt

2 cups short-grain rice

2 large pinches saffron (I like the Trader Joe's brand)

4 cups of Better Than Bouillon No-Chicken broth

1/2 to 1 cup dry vermouth or a dry white wine

2 tablespoons Earth Balance

1/2 to 3/4 cup grated Violife Parm

Instructions:

In an Instant Pot, press the SAUTE button and allow it to come to heat.  Add a good drizzle of olive oil and once shimmering, add the diced onion to the pot.  Sweat the onions thoroughly, add a pinch or two of salt if needed.  

While the onions sweat, add the saffron to the broth and allow it to steep a bit.

Add the rice and stir to coat with the oil, adding more oil if needed.  Allow some of the rice to brown a bit, so do not go too vigorous on the stirring.  After about four minutes, deglaze the pan with the vermouth or white wine.  I do not usually measure out the wine exactly.  Rather, I pour enough into the pan to deglaze the browned bit from the bottom of the pot.

Next, add the broth and the saffron to the pot.  Close the lid and set the iPot to MANUAL for five minutes.  Be sure that the release valve is locked!

After the five minutes are up, turn off the Instant Pot and open the steam release.  You can do this in bursts if you prefer.  Once the steam is released and the pot is no longer locked, carefully open the pot.  Add the Earth Balance and Violife to the hot risotto and give it all a good stir.  Add salt to taste.

Optional: I do love to add a little green to my risotto dishes and while that would not be exactly traditional, the fact that this is already a veganized version means that we've pretty much thrown tradition right out on its ass.  So, throw in a half cup or so of frozen peas right after opening, if you want.  Fresh parsley could also be a tasty addition.