Breakfast risotto

"Can you reheat risotta?"

I have a job where I can eat breakfast at my desk in the morning and I have gotten into the habit of bringing something with me. As I'm currently out of yogurt and cottage cheese, I'm interested in breakfast risotto. Maybe I can make a batch on the weekend and bring it in for a couple of days?

"Yes, but it will not be as good," texts back My Brother the Chef. "I would use a skillet. Add liquid, add heat."

"Unless of course all I have is the microwave at work..." I respond.

"Microwaves are bad tools," he writes. "Only good for defrosting meats. You could reheat your risotto in a microwave. Add liquid, add heat. I don't recommend it."

Well, thanks for nothin', brother dearest.

As an aside, he is also opposed to freezing it. "The liquid and the starch may seperate or do something else unwanted."

All right, I can avoid freezing it, but how can I possibly make a crockpot full of risotto and not take some to work? I don't get up early enough to make breakfast on my stove at home!

Bah, on My Brother the Chef, I say.

I made breakfast risotto yesterday. I made it in the afternoon because the timing really, really doesn't work out to eat it for breakfast unless you get up and turn on the crock pot then go back to bed.

And who wants to do that?

I followed the directions on that blog just like it said. I made the whole batch instead of halving it becuase 1.5 cups of Arborio rice really didn't look like much.

I was wrong, but oh well.

I used a small container of Simply Apple and a small container of milk (because I don't like milk and therefore really don't keep it in the apartment). It was 2 cups of each.

I kept going over and stiring to help the rice from sticking to the bottom. I have no idea how long it cooked, but I did cook it on high until it was done.

The problem was the taste.

I had this breakfast over our first Thanksgiving holiday at my cousins' cabin in the mountains of North Carolina. I knew what it was supposed to taste like, at this wasn't it.

Perhaps I found the wrong recipe? Did I follow the directions correctly? It really seemed like it needed sugar.

I went back over the recipe, looking at the directions. There was no mention of sugar. In the directions. But when I looked up at the ingredients...

Brown sugar.

I had totally forgotten it.

Because it wasn't mentioned in the directions. Of course, neither was the salt, but I remembered to add that before letting it go because I had gotten the container out of the cupboard. This is why I get all my ingredients out first, I'm less likely to forget things!

So, the rice was completely cooked when I added the brown sugar. I turned off the heat and stirred it in. It melted and melded just fine.

And it finally tasted right.

Conclusion: Always double check your ingredients. And I didn't take pictures because, although tasty, it wasn't attractive. Oh, and I had it for breakfast this morning. It reheated in the microwave just fine.