Risotto With Shrimp and Arugula

Photo: Shawnna and Davide Busetti

Ingredients

1 pound medium shrimp, shelled, deveined, tail off

4 cups vegetable broth

1 cup fresh arugula

2 cups arborio rice

1 onion finely chopped

1 clove garlic minced

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon butter

vegetable bouillon cube (optional)

Preparation

In a medium saucepan, heat the vegetable broth to a simmer. Keep it simmering while you cook the risotto.

In a large heavy bottom skillet or saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat, then saute the onion and garlic until they soften and take on a nice golden brown color.

Next add the rice to the saucepan, and saute it with the olive oil and onion for a minute or two, so that it gets slightly golden.

Now it is time to add the broth. Using a ladle, Add the broth to the rice mixture. You want to cover but not drown the rice. Stir in the broth almost constantly until it is mostly absorbed by the rice. As the liquid is absorbed, continue to add more. The amount of liquid a rice will absorb varies, but on average it will take about 20 minutes for the rice to reach the desired al dente tenderness. You might use most of the vegetable broth, in the case that your rice needs more liquid, you can dilute the broth with water. You can add a vegetable bouillon cube if you want to give the broth a stronger flavor. Continue the process of stirring and adding more broth until the rice is tender but firm. After about 15 minutes (or when you think the rice is about 5 minutes away from being done.) of adding broth and stirring, add th