Risotto with Scallops

Tonight's dinner was not what I would call a success, not by any means.  I had a tasty delicious lunch the other day of a creamy butternut squash risotto with perfectly seared scallops.  It was so good, that I wanted to attempt to make it at home.

The store just happened to have a good deal on some sea scallops, so I picked up a pound of those.

To make the risotto:

Saute 1/2 chopped onion with some butter, then throw in 1 cup of arborio rice, stir until brown.
Stir in 1 cup of dry white wine ( i used vermouth, because that's what I had on hand). This begins the labor intensive process: semi-constant stirring.  There really isn't any specific amount of time to cook the rice, just until it is al-dente.  I think it took about 20 minutes.

Stir in 1 cup of chicken stock when the vermouth has cooked down to 1/2.  Only add more liquid to the mix when the majority has been absorbed.  I added a total of 3 1/2 cups of chicken stock to the rice.  Near the end of its life cycle I threw in 1 cup of frozen peas & a handful of chopped roma tomatoes to add some nutrition value.  The best part of risotto is the cheese - I stirred in some fresh grated parmesan to give it a nice creamy flavor.

The risotto actually turned out ok - the scallops & steamed broccoli I tried to make - not so much.

In my attempt to "pan-sear" scallops, I essentially burned a nice thick layer of scallop gunk to the bottom of my beautiful pan.  In an attempt to fix the whole mess, I put a little chicken stock in the pan to try and free them from the burnt mess, and so ended up with chicken flavored boiled scallops.  They tasted ok, after being put on top of the risotto, but the end result was not as planned.

Thank goodness for having stainless steal cookware that cleans up pretty good, or I would have a pan in the trash.

The broccoli - oh my - well, lets just say it is possible to overcook broccoli.  After one bite - it was all in the trash unfortunately - if there was an award for the best mushy nearly pureed broccoli - I would win it.

The rice turned out pretty tasty and filling - thank goodness, but overall - the dinner was quite a learning experience.  There are just some meals that are best left to the professionals.