Artichoke Risotto

The cupboard was kind of bare the other night and the teens were howling for supper, so I perused my cookbooks for inspiration. I pulled out Rachael Ray's "Veggie Meals" (NY: Lake Isle Press, 2001) and perused some options. I actually had a scant 2 cups of arborio rice in the pantry, a can of water-packed artichoke hearts and of course garlic, olive oil and white wine were on hand, so I decided to try her Artichoke Risotto recipe. I didn't see here recipe reprinted on the Internet and don't want to repeat it here without permission, but basically you make a risotto with stock and white wine and throw in the artichoke hearts, drained and chopped, with some thyme leaves and grated cheese, at the end when all the stock is absorbed. Add a salad and you've got your supper in about an hour. Slow food and good!

Rachael Ray is one of our North Country celebrities and returns often to her Lake Luzerne hometown to do fundraisers for local charities. She first came on the scene as an enthusiastic television cook on Channel 6 News, partnered with movie critic Dan DiNicola, and the pair were very entertaining. Dan pretended not to know how to boil water and Rachael would steer him through easy, tasty recipes in the couple of minutes of air time that they would share each week. She didn't have those verbal tics of "yumm-O" and "delish" that she's acquired with TV celebrity chef status, and pretty soon, she and Dan had a cookbook that you could buy at the local supermarket. I have several of her cookbooks, and would recommend "Veggie Meals" to anyone who wants a bunch of Italianate recipes that don't require too many fancy cooking skills and ingredients.