Turkey Cranberry New Years' Risotto

We are up a Whistler again this year for New Years.  It has been a rather low key affair since some of our regular attendees were unable to come up with us this year so it has been much quieter and I have only visited the hot tub once the whole trip, it has been a bit weird.


I was sort of in charge of dinner last night.  We had left over turkey in the freezer and we had already made stock from the bones, so I decided to do a risotto. I had picked up some arborio rice but I magically forgot the other key ingredient : Parmesan.  I usually use a risotto and rice cookbook for the base recipe but this time I picked a Jamie Oliver recipe but since I didn't have a scale I had to guess at the amount of rice and wine :)  The plan was to make a turkey cranberry risotto and it turned out beautifully especially topped with left over cranberry sauce. 

Turkey and Cranberry Risotto


1 large Onion, finely diced
4 cloves Garlic, finely diced
2 tbsp Butter
1 tbsp Olive Oil
1 stalk Celery, finely diced
1 Carrot, finely diced
2 cups Arborio Rice
2 wine glasses of White Wine (approximately 8oz or 1 cup of wine)
approximately 8 cups of Turkey Stock 
1/3 cup Dried Cranberries
3-4 cups left over Turkey, diced
2 tbsp butter
Salt
Pepper
Cranberry Sauce (to serve with the risotto)
1/2 -1 cup parmesan (optional, we didn't have any and it as still really delicious)


1Prepare all veggies and bring stock up to a simmer before starting the cooking process.  Add the dried cranberries to the stock to rehydrate (Add them into the risotto with the stock)


2In a large skillet heat heat 2 tbsp butter and Oil. Saute onion, garlic, carrots and celery until translucent.  Add rice and saute until translucent (Approx. 3-5 minutes).


3 Deglaze pan with the wine and stir until the wine is almost soaked into the rice (1-2 minutes) then add approximately 1 cup of stock and let that absorb into the rice. Once that is almost gone add more stock a ladle full at a time and waiting for the stock to be mostly absorbed before adding more. Stirring frequently.


4 Once the rice has started to plump up, keep testing the rice to see if it getting tender.  You know your almost done when the rice is cooked.  Add the turkey and stir to heat through and then remove from heat and add 2 tbsp of butter and stir through, cover and let sit for a few minutes.  If using parmesan, then add with the butter, cover and let sit for a few minutes.


5 Enjoy!