Sorrel Risotto

When I’m wrong, I say I’m wrong, and I am. Or was. It wasn’t the plants after all, although they may have had a part in it. It was the pigs. Sure enough, when I went to drop off their pile of weed scraps (accumulated after this mornings weedings) there it was, smiling up at me, just as plain as can be: my hand cultivator. How it got from here to there is a mystery. Here’s my thoughts: A weed gripped onto it tight and held on as I was lifting it up into the wheelbarrow. Yes. That must’ve been how it happened. Well. There is nothing left to do but go and apologize. A certain Clematis has been falsely accused, and nothing will be right with the world until I go and say a good I’m sorry in the way of an Official Apology and a bit of a let-me-make-it-up-to-you by applying an extra dose of fertilizer. That should do it.

Now. As for the rest of the days happenings, the herb garden is officially Spring Cleaned, and later the plan is to plant the flower pails and boxes. We went with Alyssums this year, as well as Snap Dragons, and a new plant that waved at me in the nursery greenhouse, until I could stand it no more and scooped it up to come home with me. The colors this year (they change each and every year—last year was a red/white/and blue conglomeration, so I must’ve been feeling rather patriotic)  are a bit softer, paler. Pastel-ish. Why do they change? I don’t know, but they do. And don’t bother asking how I know which is the right one for this par-tic-ular year, because I don’t know that either. At least not until I see this year’s plants. Then I know.

And for dinner, it will be a bit of Sorrel Risotto alongside a Pork Chop, marinated and cooked over a charcoal grill.

Never had Sorrel? Well, you must try it. You simply must. It is a fa-vor-ite here on the Farm, being one of the first plants to poke it’s head out in the Spring, and it stays out all the Summer long, giving it’s good, nourishing greens long after the spinach has done it’s bolting. It’s tender like spinach, and will cook down to nothing just like it as well, only Sorrel is—sour? Lemony? It’s hard to describe, so you’ll just have to try it for yourself. Oh. And it’s absolutely delicious with Parmesan Cheese, which makes it especially good in this Risotto.

And here is how it is done:

A quarter cup arborio rice is placed in a large frying pan, along with a finely diced sweet onion and a quarter cup of butter—it is stirred and cooked over a medium flame until all is toasty and nice. Once it is, warmed stock is added, I used homemade bone broth from our chickens, but a veggie stock would also do nicely. To start I add about a cup and stir and stir, keeping a pan going alongside—filled to the brim with stock-that-needs-to-be-added-but-not-yet. Once rice absorbs most of that stock, more is added until the rice is tender and creamy—usually about a quart. The sorrel is cut in ribbons, as shown above, and set aside, along with two tablespoons butter and a third cup freshly grated top quality parmesan cheese. I can’t stress this enough. It really makes all the difference. Once the rice is the way you want it, with you stirring it all the while, the pan is removed from the heat, the sorrel and butter and cheese is added and a lid applied where all that good stuff is steamed and melted. In about five minutes, the lid is removed, and all stirred together into one glorious melty creamy pile of goodness. And hey, it’s got sorrel in it, so it’s got to be good for you, right? Of course it is.