Artichoke-Mushroom Risotto

Tonight we were fortunate enough to have one of my cousins from Connecticut and her close friend visiting. They are enroute to vacation for a few days in Myrtle Beach, SC, and are staying with us tonight. It's delightful seeing them!

With the long Memorial Day weekend, they had bad traffic and didn't get here till after 12:30. I had dinner ready waiting for final preparation, and we ate at 1a or so. My stomach seems a little better, but still not great and I have low appetite, so I made a small plate for myself and avoided cooking with acidic foods like peppers and tomatoes. But I did have the main courses and a tomato-less salad.

I made risotto much like I described back in March, but didn't use garlic and toned it down in flavor just a bit. It seems to have become a convention that I use a 6-ounce container of soy yogurt as my unit of measurement. I prepared about 3 1/2 units of vegetable broth by bringing water and 2 vegan bouillon cubes to a boil and then simmer. I sauteed, in a nonstick heavy pot, about a quarter Vidalia onion and a small shallot, both of which I had cubed fairly finely. After a minute or so, I added chopped shiitake mushroom (I also had dried porcinis, but needed to use up the shiitakes as well as a portabella, so went this non-traditional route). A minute or so later, I added a unit of arborio rice and stirred till the rice was mostly clear and not white, perhaps two minutes.

Then I added a unit of white wine and stirred till the wine was absorbed, another minute or so. I continued for the next half hour or so adding a ladle or so full of the hot broth, stirring the mixture almost constantly, making sure never to have the rice swimming in liquid, but always moist. When the rice was done (i.e., all the broth used up), I added a little salt, freshly ground black pepper, vegan Parm! "parmesan cheese", maybe a teaspoon of fresh oregano, and at least a quarter cup, maybe a bit more, of artichoke hearts. I also served some lemoned green beans and a salad with organic rose petals from my garden.