Risotto and Roasted Veggies

A favorite and easy dinner! Phil and I absolutely love both of these!

Risotto
· 1 quart chicken stock
· 2 cups water
· 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), plus a drizzle
· 1 medium onion, finely chopped
· 2 large cloves garlic, grated or finely chopped
· Salt and freshly ground black pepper, thyme
· 1 pound spaghetti, broken into small pieces
· 1/2 cup white wine
· 2 tablespoons butter
· 3/4 cup cheese (Whatever is on hand – a mix of cheddar and any white cheese is great)
PPreparation
Heat a medium sauté pan or with 3 tablespoons EVOO, 3 turns of the pan, over medium to medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic to pan, season with salt, pepper and thyme for taste, and sauté until tender 4-5 minutes. Add pasta and toast until deeply golden in color, 6-7 minutes. Stir in wine and let it cook away, 1 minute. Ladle in stock every few minutes, stirring for a good minute with each addition of stock to develop starches. Evaporate almost all of the liquid before each addition of stock. Pasta will cook up quicker then rice. Start tasting after about 8-9 minutes of cooking time once you begin to add stock.
When pasta is cooked to al dente, stir butter into the pan then stir in the cheese.
Want meat? Add any thinly sliced deli meat, cut into little pieces and add with the onions and garlic and follow along with recipe.

Roasted Vegetables
Good vegetables for roasting: peppers, onions, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, potatoes, zucchini, garlic
Preheat Oven to 400 degrees.
In a casserole dish, cut vegetables in big chunks (Big chunks because they will shrink as they roast) till the casserole dish is full. Toss vegetables either any oil based salad dressing or oil/black pepper/salt/oregano mixture. Make sure vegetables are coated well.
Put in oven and cook for 1 hour – stirring the vegetables every 15 min to get an even roast. Check at 45 min if vegetables are done as some ovens cook quicker than others!