Week Night Dinner- Risotto

Risotto always seemed like a very intimidating dish to make. After all, I first heard about it from Kitchen Nightmares and/or Hell's Kitchen where Chef Ramsay is constantly yelling at chef's, 'you can't even make a risotto!' It sounded like a simple- for elegant and trained chefs only- type of dish. Nevertheless, a few months ago I bought arborio rice with an amateur cook's dream of making this dish at home.
It didn't matter that I never tried it before or that when I was at the store couldn't find 'risotto' rice in the rice aisle.  Fellow amateur risotto connoisseurs  take note- it's arborio rice that is used to make 'risotto.' (Honestly, I didn't know.)

Well, turns out it's a pretty simple and tasty dish to make.  You don't need cream to make a creamy fattening risotto and you don't to constantly stir the pot to make this dish either. A friend of mine said she used broth and broth, with a bit of regular ol' milk and some Parmesan cheese is all you need to make this dish a nice meal. Here's my tried and true recipe:

3/4 cup arborio rice
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
12 oz of white mushrooms, sliced
3 slices of prosciutto, chopped
1 1/4 cup water (or 1 cup water and 1/4 cup dry white wine)
2 cups chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste
3/4 cup cooked chicken (optional)
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
- Takes about 20-30 minutes to make.

Instructions:
1. Heat olive oil in a pan
2. Add chopped mushrooms and saute until browned
3. Add chopped prosciutto and cook for 1-2 mins
4. Remove prosciutto and mushrooms from pan and set aside
5. Add butter to pan and melt
6. Add rice and stir until rice becomes translucent
7. Add 1/4 c water or dry white wine. Cook until liquid dissolves
8. Add 1 cup chicken stock & add back mushrooms and prosciutto
9. Optional: Add sliced, cooked chicken
10. Simmer rice until liquid is gone
11. Add the next cup of chicken stock and cook until liquid is gone
12. Add 1 cup water, and cook until liquid is absorb by rice
13. Season with salt and pepper to taste
14. Add 1/4 cup milk and Parmesan cheese & cook until melted
15. Serve and enjoy!