Katie's A Slice of Heaven Risotto with Porcini

I made a divine risotto with porcini mushrooms tonight. Here is my recipe:

1.5 cups boiling water
1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves finely minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 cup risotto
1 teaspoon salt
Chicken stock

1) Place mushrooms in boiling water and set aside for 10 minutes (have munchies on hand as the rich smell of porcini mushrooms will make your taste buds water like crazy)
2) In a skillet, saute onion and garlic in olive oil. Add oregano when onions are slightly brown
3) Strain mushrooms and reserve liquid
4) Add enough chicken stock to reserve liquid to equal 2.5 cups liquid (about 1 cup)
5) Combine all ingredients in stock pot and cook 20 minutes, constantly stirring to allow risotto to soak up broth

I want to point out that this is not really the proper way to cook risotto, and I am lucky that it turned out perfectly al dente and not crunchy. Proper risotto cooking requires adding broth a little at a time, stirring to allow risotto to soak up the liquid before adding more. I am nothing if not impatient and lazy, so I just threw it all in the stock pot and hoped for the best.

I also made garlic pesto chicken and soaked some gigantic cherry tomatoes in balsamic vinegar and olive oil. I served fresh baked pagnotta bread with butter and a bottle of 2003 Canaletto Pinot Grigio (a delicious wine for summer evenings).

Judah is still under the weather...feverish and demanding to see Finding Nemo for the eleven-millionth time. "Nino! I'm Nino!" "Shark!" "Whale!" "Turtle!" "More Nino!" Today was a very TV-intensive day, which I allowed only because it keeps Judah from fanning around and allows him to convalesce peacefully.

I managed to get out around 2pm to go vote in a local election, shop at the bookstore (I got "The Loved One" by Evelyn Waugh...one of my favorite authors and a new summer "beach book" -- Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination by Helen Fielding) and run by the market to pick up everything for tonight's dinner. I stopped by the liquor store to get rum and made it home 10 minutes before the start of the 131th Kentucky Derby. Judah and I wore hats (his daddy didn't want to participate in my silliness) and I made mojitos after thinking about how much I really hate mint juleps -- I had them at Churchill Downs during Derby Week a few years ago and once you've had about three of them they finally start to taste edible, but I decided that rather than punish myself in the name of tradition, I'd make something Latin and delish. My favorite horse this year, Afleet Alex, placed. There are two more races in the Triple Crown. Go, Alex, Go!