Chicken risotto with zucchini

… and how I blog about it.

Take this wonderful Chicken risotto with zucchini as an example. Hopefully you can relate and cook this recipe one day.

Some time ago I read this comment on another food website:

“The Quick & Easy Recipe that is neither Quick nor Easy First, just grab a handful of [homemade artisan dough] that everybody always has in their fridge and shape into a flawless circle. Add leftover [chargrilled or smoked poultry] that you have lying around from the weekly block parties you throw. Next, drizzle with homemade [exotic ingredient barbecue sauce] from the recipe I posted just moments ago. Next, chop up a [pain in the ass fruit…pineapple, it’s usually pineapple] into tiny little cubes and add to pizza. Place pizza in [commercial cooking device that you definitely don’t own]. Don’t worry, you can also use a boring old regular oven. Just be sure it’s set at 1000 degrees. Voila, gourmet pizza in less than fifteen minutes!”

Yes, I plead guilty.

I cook like this. Well, not that I put both chicken and pineapple on my pizza. In fact, I neither put them on it. Like I would never put chicken in my risotto.

But I cook like that.

Just checkin’ what I have in my fridge, my cupboard and my very small vegetable garden and work myself to a meal that way.

The comment above appeared on The Kitchn, below a post about types of commenters on food blogs. And this person wanted to make fun of food bloggers as well. It didn’t make me laugh.

It made me think.

What do people, well, you, my readers (hi!) expect from a food blog? This food blog?

When I started all over, but now in English, I spend some time reading about the do’s and don’ts of food blogging. But most sites that teach about the do’s, presume you’re (that means: I’m) aiming for a huge audience. And tips are like: Make great photo’s! Publish at least 3 times a week! Post recipes that your readers are looking for!

Oops.

Oooooops.

Ooooooooooooooooooops.

I don’t do all those things. I illustrate. I publish whenever I have something to share. And I love to tell how I get inspired to cook, to explore, to try, most of the times just by checking what I already have in my fridge, cupboard or even in my small vegetable garden. Not necessary ingredients you’ll have at hand as well. But that’s how I cook. And what I want to write about, what I want to share.

My excuse? Well, this tiny place is called edie eats for a reason. 😉

Let me give you an example.

This were the ingredients that I had:
* Some roasted chicken, 3 drumsticks to be exactly. You’ll probably have it as well some day, maybe more or less the same amount of a whole chicken? Print and stick this recipe on your fridge for those days!
* I had a zucchini and lemon thyme from my vegetable garden. But you can buy the first and replace the second with ordinary thyme.
* And I had some pickled onion in my fridge, quickly made by soaking some sliced white onion in apple cider vinegar. But since it loosens most of the acidity and sweetens up when frying as any ordinary, non-pickled onion would do for you.

But what to make with it?

Twitter helped me. Although I thought Italians would never put chicken in their risotto, I didn’t hessitate when I saw a tweet by an Italian-Dutch food blogger who did exactly this.

So…., so did I.

Thanks Nicoletta, for giving me the inspiration for this dish.

Chicken risotto with zucchini

For all the little hints on already prepared items – and how to replace them – please look above!

You need:
1 homegrown zucchini
a dollup of olive oil, maybe some more
5 twigs of lemon thyme
1/2 pickled onion
salt and pepper
1 cup | 110 gr risotto
splash of white wine
1 2/3 cup | 400 ml chicken stock
3 cooked chicken drumsticks
some aged Dutch Gouda cheese, or Parmesan

You do:
Fry the zucchini. Cut it in small bite-size pieces. Heat the olive oil in a hot skillet and fry the zucchini for about 3 minutes in it or till it browns a bit. Scoop out of the pan and tear the thyme leaves of the branches and mix with the zucchini.

Start the risotto. Add another splash of olive oil in the same skillet and on a very low heat, fry the onion. Add some salt and pepper. When the onion is getting softer, after about 5-7 minutes, add the rice. Give it a good stir and fry until translucent.

Tip: Of course you can first start with the risotto and fry the zucchini in between in another skillet – as this saves some time. I just wanted to save on the dishes.

Cook the risotto. Add the wine and stir. On moderate heat, let absorb by the rice. In the mean time, heat the stock. And find some time to pull the meat of the chicken and cut it into very small pieces. Add 1/4 of the stock to the rice, stir, and add another portion of the stock as soon as the first is absorbed. Stir and let absorb again.

Taste the risotto and decide if you’re going to use all stock or only a portion of it.

Add chicken and zucchini. After the 3rd portion of stock is absorbed, add the chicken and zucchini with the 4th portion and let gently simmer. When all stock is absorbed by the rice, it should be done. Taste, and add some more salt and pepper.

Tip: If the risotto is still too firm to your taste, simply add some water to cook it to your desired doneness.

Serve with the shaved cheese.

And? Are you going to make this recipe? Or something like this?

No? Maybe want to check my other risotto recipes. Or my other recipes with zucchini, or with chicken. You can also check the overview of all my recipes, or only my vegan and vegetarian recipes.