Risotto

I made this with leftover tri-tip form the weekend barbecue, but other meat should work fine - the type of broth should probably be adjusted to match the meat though.

12 oz (weight!) arborio rice
1 qt water (adding more as needed)
1-2 yellow onions (I used 1.5)
2 cloves garlic (can probably use a little more)
1 carrot (or more)
Handful of dried porcini mushrooms (1/3 oz?)
4 tsp bouillon paste (Better than Bouillon)
Thyme
Cubed pre-cooked meat (1 lb?)

Blanch the porcini mushrooms in the water for about 3 minutes. Remove the rehydrated mushrooms with a slotted spoon and chop them, and add the bouillon paste to the broth. Chop the onion finely and saute in the olive oil until soft and somewhat browned, adding the garlic (finely chopped), porcini mushrooms and chopped carrots along the way. Stir in the rice and saute for a couple more minutes. Stir in the broth; cook on low heat for upwards of 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add water during cooking if it seems to be needed for a creamy consistency. When the rice reaches the desired consistency, stir in the meat cubes and let them heat up.

Note: Most risotto recipes seem to call for white wine to be added (and reduced pretty much completely) before the rice is added. We had no opened white wine so I skipped it and it worked fine. Maybe that's why I had to add water though.

Ideas: Fresh mushrooms and/or green onions (sauteed with the yellow onions) would probably make a good addition, and maybe peas (added at the end together with the meat.)

Total cooking time around 1 hr; likely serves 4 adults.