The official report from the airport said 28.5 inches of snow, the second-largest snowstorm ever in the city. Nothing to sneeze at. I shoveled the sidewalk, salted the front steps, dug out the car, and came back inside to make one of my favorite mid-winter comfort meals: Meyer lemon risotto.
It's always seemed paradoxical to me that winter is citrus season. I have no excuse for this feeling other than bad logic. See, citrus grows in warm places, which means that it should be growing well when it's warm outside, which means that winter shouldn't be citrus season. Um, QED?
Anyway, we decided to take advantage of the bounty by buying some distinctively northern California treats: Meyer lemons. They're a cross between lemons and oranges, and they were ubiquitous in the San Francisco Bay Area --- in pots, on people's lawns, on the psych department balcony (yes, really). We saw them in the produce section of Whole Foods and decided to pick up a few. (Actually, what really happened was that Michael pouted excessively in the produce section of Whole Foods until I finally gave in and let him buy a few. Sheesh, you'd think I never let him have any fun at all.)
For those of you who know how to make risotto, making Meyer lemon risotto is easy: Just use the juice in place of wine when deglazing the rice, and put in some zest during the last third of the cooking.
For those of you who don't, follow me.
First, we prepped the lemons: I zested the skin off of two of them and squeezed the juice into a bowl.
Meanwhile, Michael chopped shallots and then sweated them in butter and a pinch of salt until they softened.
Man, shallots in butter...that is just about the best smell ever.
After the shallots turned translucent, we stirred in a cup of Arborio rice and let that turn translucent as well. Then we added the lemon juice to deglaze the pan. Normally, this step is done with wine, but anything flavorful and acidic will do the job. We also put in a bit of orange juice at this point --- cheating a bit, I know, but using only the Meyer lemon juice would have made the base too sour. Orange juice brings out the sweetness of the Meyer lemons without masking their citrusy flavor.
We kept a pot of veggie broth simmering on a second burner, and started spooning it in one ladle-ful at a time as soon as the rice had a chance to absorb some of the juice. From here on out, it was pretty easy to keep an eye on things and to add more liquid whenever the rice had absorbed most of the previous addition. One cup of rice will take about four cups of liquid, give or take.
About two-thirds of the way through the cooking, we added the zest and a handful of frozen peas to accentuate the springiness of the dish. Obviously, I would have preferred fresh peas, but those are definitely not in season.
While Michael was stirring it up at the stove, I peeled off the skin of a fresh Meyer lemon and sliced it thinly for a garnish:
When the risotto was almost done, we stirred in some chopped parsley, a handful of grated Parmesan cheese, and a good-sized knob of butter. Hey, I said this was comfort food!
The whole thing took about 45 minutes, top to bottom, maybe a bit less. I'm not sure it's the sort of thing that I'd try to put on the table for dinner every night, but it was definitely worth the effort. The Meyer lemons filled the kitchen with a sweet and fresh perfume, and the peas added a little "pop" to the creamy risotto. Topped with some freshly-shaved Parmesan and the sliced zest, this was definitely a little ray of winter sunshine.
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