Destination Italia

Alright, so this past weeks destination was Italy, the initial destination was suppose to be Slovenia, and from there make my way to Italy. However, Slovenia is a tiny country, and with tiny countries comes tiny amounts of recipes on the internet. To put it in other words, trying to find a Slovenian recipe that I can a)pronounce and b) lacks horse meat is a bit like trying to find some in  Vancouver who despises kale and yoga. It's near impossible. So I made the decision this week to head to Italy after a long week at uni and curl up on the sofa, with books on how children's rights are a load of bollocks in practice but grand in theory.

I chose to make a Risotto, this week with chicken breast and broccoli. I've made many a risotto before, and every time I make one I tend not to touch them for about a month or two after woulds....namely because I always make way too much and after eating the stuff for two week straight I am quite ready to banish it to the back of the classroom. That being said, the wonder full thing about Risotto is that provided you have a chicken (or veggie stock), white wine,Arborio rice and parmesan cheese you can put what ever you want in it. I opted for mushrooms, peas and sun-dried tomato and large quantities to even out the obscene amounts of rice and stock in the pan that I added. I took a chicken breast out of the freezer marinated it using the contents of the fridge which included, basil, dijon mustard, garlic, splash of tomato paste, salt pepper and chilli flakes and threw it in a pan along with some halloumi to add texture.
 
Plating was a night mare because in the wise words of one of the biggest influencers on my food obsession, my dear Lorenzo Schober, " you cannot make risotto look good, it always looks like shit."So here is my attempt at poshing up a un-poshable food.