I hope get back into the swing of things in my kitchen the next few days. Last week has been extremely busy and thankfully, life has slowed down just a tad for me to get some much needed kitchen therapy. I'm still working on using up the random ingredients I have on hand and with that, I had a box of arborio rice to play with. Being pregnant, I don't have much wine in the house as I used to. The only exception is the bottle of Marsala wine. Since I usually like using white wine to make risotto, I substituted the white wine with Marsala wine instead.
The flavor of the marsala wine was delicious and fully absorbed by the rice and it also provided a nice, rich color as well. Adding grilled or baked chicken to the dish would make it a heartier dish too. Either way, marsala wine is great for other dishes other than the traditional chicken marsala!


1/2 tbsp. butter
1 chopped onion
10 oz sliced baby bella (cremini) mushrooms
12 oz Trader Joe's Arborio Rice
4 cups heated stock (vegetable, chicken or beef)
1/2 cup grated parmesan (I used fontinella cheese)
4 oz marsala wine
salt to taste


In a medium sized heavy-bottom saucepan, melt the butter and saute the onions until softened. Add the sliced mushrooms and saute until softened as well. Add the rice and stir until well-coated and translucent.

Add the wine and cook till evaporated. Stir in 1 cup of the hot stock and simmer gently. When the stock has been absorbed, add another cup, and continue in this way through the 18-20 minutes of cooking time.

Once all the stock has been absorbed and used, stir in the cheese. Salt to taste. Remove from heat, cover and set aside for 2 minutes before serving.