Sun Dried Tomato Risotto

This is a recipe that our friend Alex made for us last month. We loved it, and when I saw that he had posted the recipe on his web site I thought it would be a good recipe to start with (photos of recipe on: alexandcati.com, Alex and Cati's site devoted to food. Our good friend Esti is often a star...) enjoy.

Alex's Sun Dried Tomato Risotto

• 2 med size onion 3 large cloves garlic
• 2 TBSP butter (1/4 stick)
• 2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
• 1 cup risotto rice
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes (sliced into strips)
• 1 cup frozen corn

Heat the olive oil and butter in a frying pan on med heat. Sautee the finely chopped onion and garlic until the onion starts to soften. Add the rice to the frying pan and coat the rice evenly with the oil/onion mix. Add one cup chicken broth and bring the mix to a gentle simmer. Be careful not to have this too hot as you want the rice to soak up the broth, and you don’t want to drive it off as steam. After the rice has absorbed the broth, add the next cup, let the rice absorb that, then the last. When the risotto is just about done add the frozen corn and the sun-dried tomatoes.

I like to serve this with seafood; like scallops. Scallops are pretty easy, I drag them through a 5:1 flour and adobo mixture, then sautee in olive oil. Chop some fresh cilantro to sprinkle on top, open the white wine, and you are done.