Dinner Tonight

This is easy, if a bit decadent and debauched.

Champagne Risotto

• 2 1/2 cups Arborio rice
  
• A half bottle of champagne or other dry sparkling wine, for example Franciacorta or Prosecco
  
• 1 quart simmering beef, chicken, or vegetable stock (I use chicken)
  
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 a small onion, finely minced (Some people like a whole onion. I don't. I think it overpowers the wine.)
  
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano (There is only one kind worth buying and it doesn't come in a green package.)
  
• Salt & Pepper

Melt half the butter and slowly sauté the onion until it turns golden. Wet it down with a half cup of the wine and cook over a brisk flame until it has evaporated. Then add the rice and cook, stirring constantly, until light passes through the grains, and begin adding the broth a little bit at a time. Once all the broth is in, start pouring the rest of the wine in a liitle at a time. Do not let it get soupy. Only pour as it is absorbed. Continue cooking the risotto, stirring, until the rice is just shy of the al dente stage, at which point stir in the remaining butter and the cheese. Cook a couple minutes more, turn the risotto out into a tureen.