Let's start with the fact that this recipe calls for a half a pound of brie. Well, no. It doesn't call for that much, EXACTLY. But that's the size Whole Foods sells brie in, and I couldn't very well just eat the extra by the big blobby fingerful. (Ahem).
Plus, it was my turn to make dinner, I had a whole cauliflower to do away with, and I wanted it out of the fridge. If I'm going to eat cauliflower, there needs to be a pretty significant incentive. Epicurious offered up a recipe for risotto with cauliflower, brie and almonds. Ding!
One of my favorite aspects of Epicurious is the user reviews. How disappointing is it to try a new recipe and have it fall flat? Sad. The reviews help avoid this.
The reviews for this recipe indicated that the recipe was good, but a little bland. I hate bland. I am an anti-blandite. This led several key modifications:
1. To intensify/improve the flavor, I roasted the cauliflower (toss with a little olive oil, salt, pepper, sugar, in the oven at 500 for 25 min), rather than pan fry it.
2. Sauteed 2 diced shallots in butter and olive oil before adding in the risotto.
3. Doubled the amount of thyme, and added 2 whole cloves of garlic in the broth.
4. Added chanterelle mushrooms to the risotto as I added the broth. The mushrooms were dried, which required soaking them in hot water for 30 min before tossing them in with the rice.
5. Topped with a little chopped Italian parsley (hey! this isn't healthy, is it?)
I served the risotto with a simple green salad with a champagne vinagrette, the acidity and cleanness of which provided a welcome contrast to the richness of the rice.
The verdict? DELISH. This was a huge hit, and will certainly make into high rotation this winter; only caveat is that it's relatively labor-intensive and a little hot for a work-week dinner in August. But if one recipe can provide an antidote to both cauliflower AND February, you're working with some powerful stuff.
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