Beer Cheese Risotto Recipe

I’ve written many a time before about how much I love risotto; how wonderful a dish it is as a vehicle for leftovers and how it is just such a great blank slate for flavors. I received a new pot and as part of the review process I decided that risotto would be a perfect test. I was gathering my ingredients and I was struck with inspiration – although it’s funny, the inspiration was more for the leftovers of the risotto than for this initial recipe! Talk about thinking ahead! BUT as I was putting together a traditional risotto I did go down a slightly different path. Since I was using cheddar cheese I thought that instead of wine I’d use beer and I’d have the wonderful flavor of beer cheese dip in my risotto. So I bring you beer cheese risotto. Yum!

I have to say it came out even better than I anticipated. The risotto was rich, creamy and had the taste of my favorite beer cheese dip. The ale I used gave it a delightful tang.

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Beer Cheese Risotto

Serves 4 – 6

1 1/2 cups arborio rice
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 quart chicken broth
1 12oz can/bottle ale or beer
1 garlic clove, chopped fine
1 TBS olive oil
salt and pepper

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Heat the chicken stock to a boil and lower the heat and keep to a simmer.
Heat a large, heavy bottomed saute pan over medium high heat.

Add the oil. When it is hot add the garlic and swirl it around.

Add the rice and stir it to coat fully in the hot oil.

When it starts to pop add the beer/ale.

Stir the rice until all of the beer/ale is absorbed by the rice.
Just remember to stir constantly
Add several ladles of hot chicken stock and stir until absorbed by the rice.
Keep doing this until there is one more addition of chicken stock left.

Add the cheese and stir until it is dissolved.
Add the remaining chicken stock and stir until it is fully absorbed. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Cover the pot and let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

While the risotto was cooking I roasted some green beans in the oven. Just a little olive oil and salt and pepper. I served the risotto on top of the green beans with a little sprinkling of cheddar cheese on top. This was really tasty risotto. The cheddar was complemented by the beer and it had a wonderful cheesy, beery flavor that we both loved. It really did taste like beer cheese dip!

The next night I used the risotto leftovers to make an amazing dinner. All I’ll tell you is that it involved bacon. Bacon people – BACON!