Green Tea Risotto with Pine Nuts and Edamame

Modified from recipe contributed by Chef Rodney Uyehara
Serves 6 
I was delighted to have been given this recipe from a client after she hosted a party of dinner items, all including tea.  Besides tea, my family loves all things rice, so much that a meal which doesn't include it, may not be considered a meal.  For this reason, I often bring rice dishes to pot luck gatherings.  

With the wheat-free dietary movement gaining popularity, as a fancier alternative to fried rice, and because the Arborio rice is eco-farmed by Lundberg, this recipe is a winner in my book.  
Ingredients:
 
2 c Aborio rice
2 c chicken stock, heated
8 oz Hamakua mushrooms, slicced
1/2 c raw pine nuts
1/2 c shelled soybeans
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp chopped garlic
2 Bay leaves
1/4 c extra virgin olive oil
1 T ground Sweet Roast green tea
1/4 c grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 c whipping cream
Salt and pepper to taste

Sauté sliced mushrooms, pine nuts, and soybeans in butter until beans are semi-cooked.  Set aside.  
 

Combine garlic, rice, and bay leaf in olive oil and stir over medium heat until blended.  
Add heated chicken stock a little at a time while stirring rice mixture.  Cover and cook rice about 15 minutes, until desired texture, lowering heat when mixture starts to bubble. 

Meanwhile, prepare tea and grated cheese by tossing them together.


 Add tea cheese, mushroom mix, cream, and seasonings.  Stir until thoroughly blended. Enjoy!






** A note about Arborio Rice from Lundberg Farms

I enjoy products which are produced with superior methods.  When looking us what "eco-farmed" means, my interest in Lundberg Farms deepened.  Lundberg produces several varieties of organic and eco farmed rice. While the eco-farmed rice is superior to conventionally farmed rice, it does not adhere to the same legal standards as a certified organic rice would.  The company boasts a very honest table of information comparing production in the two methods here.  They are so sincere in their efforts to farm in a way which benefits the environment that the even re-locate eggs laid by migratory water foul in their fields of cover crops before they mow and prepare for planting each spring.  Local children search for eggs and turn them over to a hatchery where they will be hatched, banded, and released back into the wild.  See videos about the egg salvage program here.

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