Ingredients
- 4 cups of chicken stock
- 6 tablespoons of butter
- 1 finely minced sweet onion
- 2 1/2 cups of carnaroli or arborio rice
- 1 cup of dry white wine
- leaves from 5 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 2 heads of garlic, roasted
- 1 cup frozen peas, thawed
- 1 cup grated fontina cheese
- 1 pound, boneless, skinless chicken (tenders, breasts, or
- thighs…you choose)
- kosher salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste
- fresh parmesan and parsley for garnish
Instructions
- In a medium pan, heat the stock with four cups of water. Keep the stock warm.
- Get the chicken and cut it into bite-sized cutlets.
- In a skillet set at medium heat, sauté the chicken seasoned with salt and pepper. Use a little EVOO.
- Cook in about 5 minutes then remove the skillet and reserve.
- In a heavy bottomed pot at medium heat, heat 3 tablespoons of butter. Then add the onion. Wait until it becomes translucent. This will take about 5 minutes to 6 minutes.
- Put rice and thyme. Stir for about 1 minute or coat until it is shiny. Stir frequently and add wine. Keep stirring until the wine is absorbed.
- Add the stock to the rice. Get the roasted garlic and squeeze it out of its skin. Get a small bowl. Put the remaining butter and add the garlic to the bowl. Mash the mix with a fork.
- Check if the rice is tender. If so, add the garlic butter, chicken, cheese and thawed peas. Stir well. Add salt and pepper as needed.
- Remove from the heat. Cover to keep warm.
- Once ready, add chopped parsley and grated parmesan cheese as desired.
Some things you don’t know about butter:
Butter has a long history to go.
- Butter has been yellow as early as the 14th
- Butter factories are sometimes called creameries.
- Butter production reaches billions of pounds (weight).
- A pound of butter needs at least 21 pounds of milk.
- Fragile items were once wrapped with butter (like bubble wraps) when on transport. This is during the middle ages.
- Some attribute the word ‘butterfly’ to witches transforming into butterflies to steal butter and cream from the farmers. This is based on a medieval superstitious belief.
Everything about Parmesan Cheese, Cheeses, and Other Dairy Products:
- Macaroni and cheese was first used with a cheese very similar to parmesan cheese.
- New York City hosts two restaurants that serve nothing but different brands of macaroni and cheese.
- There is a legend that got stuck that Macaroni and Cheese owes its fame to President Thomas Jefferson. He went for a visit and found the goodness in Macaroni and cheese. When he returned, he asked for it in the White House. The rest is history, or legend.
- Macaroni is traced back to China.
Onion Facts
- Onions take the third place in the scale of the production of vegetables in the United States.
- Yellow onions dominate the varieties of onions in production. Yellow onions make up 3/4 of the onions produced.
- Eating parsley helps you get rid of parsley.