Fabulous Food Friday: Lemongrass Risotto

Thus far on Fabulous Food Fridays, I have written about, well, fabulous food. Things that I was able to recreate in my own kitchen and have them taste pretty darn good; not Disney good, but still quite an enjoyable meal. What happens when Disney cooking goes astray? Today I will tell you – it is awful. It is that moment where you realize, you are not a chef at Disney World and you cannot expect to whip up magical gourmet meals because you have a Mickey Mouse apron on. People who know me will tell you I am a pretty decent cook. I get creative and I generally get the job done. Until I tried my hand at today’s recipe, Lemongrass Risotto.

The original Lemongrass Risotto can be found at California Grill at Disney’s Contemporary Resort. Trust me when I say the chefs at one of Disney’s signature restaurants know how to make risotto. Let me follow that statement up with, I can’t. While the instructions were clear, I had never made risotto before this experiment. In all fairness, I never tried because the only place I ever had risotto that I liked was at Disney. I figured if chefs all over have a hard time creating this dish, what chance did I have? I have been having such success with my Disney recipes, I saw this one and figured – why not? Maybe all the other risottos just didn’t have the right flavoring or a picture of Mickey Mouse stirring the pot which makes me believe I can do it too. What I forgot was that pride comes before the fall. And oh how I fell!

It seemed to be going smoothly at first and as I followed the instructions for how to make my risotto creamy but still al dente, I realized – mine looks more like half-cooked Uncle Ben’s and less like the yummy goodness that serve at California Grill. While my husband made some grilled shrimp to accompany the risotto, I watched and stirred and feared. Finally, the evil experiment was over and we put it to the test. My family sat down to a dinner of grilled shrimp and lemongrass risotto – sounds delicious, right? Here’s the problem, it was delicious, as long as I didn’t have to chew the risotto. Yes, chew the risotto – it was chewy and firm and not at all like it was supposed to be. The moral of the story – it had a delicious flavor but I can’t cook risotto. If you can cook risotto – I highly recommend trying this light, lemony version. If you are like me and can’t cook risotto, stay away and just order it the next time you are at Disney World!