Grilled bone-in pork chop, Gourmet Mushroom Risotto and fresh green beans

Living life is all about discovering what you love.  Within the last few years (really, the last year-ish), I have discovered a new love: risotto!  Risotto is awesome paired with a great meat, and even more awesome as a main dish by itself.  I love anything saucy, creamy and cheesy - and this is all of the above, so naturally it is a fav :)  Travis and I chose to have risotto paired with chicken Marsala at our wedding reception, see below!

So, as my wild hair has continued, I decided I wanted to attempt creating my first risotto dish.  I chose to do a basic mushroom risotto for my first try, figuring it would be tasty and a good stepping-stone into new and more schmancy risottos.

Travis is our (small) family's grill master, and decided he wanted to do pork chops for the evening.  I figured, "Great! I think this risotto will pair great with the pork!"  And lo and behold, it did! The pork chop was amazing.  Lightly seasoned with Citrus Grill seasoning and drizzled with a touch of olive oil, the chops came out to be supremely juicy and full of great flavor.  The light seasoning was nice, as the risotto was very rich, or as I say, "Muy rico!" And the fresh green beans were a nice light addition. Below is the creation:

Risotto wasn't hard to make, actually fun and even more fun to eat! I just pulled a recipe off the internet, but I feel like (as with anything) you can make your own variation with whatever add-in's and flavors you like.  Below is the recipe that I used:

Gourmet Mushroom Risotto

Ingredients

• 6 cups chicken broth, divided  (I used 4 because that's all I purchased - and it turned out fine. But I also cut down the rice to a heaping cup, instead of 1 1/2 cups.)
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1 pound portobello mushrooms, thinly sliced (Omitted this)
• 1 pound white mushrooms, thinly sliced (This by itself was plenty of mushroom, but I wouldn't be shy to add more next time.)
• 2 shallots, diced  (Omitted, but will do next time!)
• 1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
• 1/2 cup dry white wine  (Sauvignon Blanc works well. And then you can drink the rest with dinner!)
• sea salt to taste
• freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped chives (Didn't use, but I'm sure would be good.)
• 4 tablespoons butter  (Wow! 4 tablespoons? I cut it down to 2, and it was still a lot and I didn't think it was necessary after the fact. Next time, I will try to do without butter altogether.)
• 1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• Garlic! (My add-in...add a few cloves or as much as you want!) 

Directions

1. In a saucepan, warm the broth over low heat.
2. Warm 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in the mushrooms, and cook until soft, about 3 minutes. Remove mushrooms and their liquid, and set aside.
3. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to skillet, and stir in the shallots. Cook 1 minute. Add rice, stirring to coat with oil, about 2 minutes. When the rice has taken on a pale, golden color, pour in wine, stirring constantly until the wine is fully absorbed. Add 1/2 cup broth to the rice, and stir until the broth is absorbed. Continue adding broth 1/2 cup at a time, stirring continuously, until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is al dente, about 15 to 20 minutes.
4. Remove from heat, and stir in mushrooms with their liquid, butter, chives, and parmesan. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

It takes a little bit of time, but not a discouraging amount of time - and 100% totally worth it! 

Enjoy!