The Secret to Perfect Risotto | Struggle Meals

In this week's episode of Struggle Meals, Frankie Celenza (@frankiecooks) breaks down how you can make perfect & creamy risotto every time. By using farro, leftover veggie scraps and in-season produce it's both nutritious & cost-effective!
RECIPE:
Yield: 4 servings
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 35-40 minutes
Ingredients:
Homemade broth:
8 cups water
Vegetable scraps
Risotto:
1 TBSP olive oil
3 butter pats
1 leeks, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup white wine
1 ½ cups farro
1 cups peas
½ bunch asparagus, cut into 1 inch pieces, ends removed
2 TBSP chopped parsley
2 TBSP chopped basil
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
Steps:
1. First make the broth: Add all of the vegetable scraps to a pot with 8 cups of water. Bring to a boil and turn down to simmer for 1 hour. Leave the broth over very low heat to use while you make the risotto.
2. To make the risotto: Heat a large pot over medium heat and add the oil and butter. Next add the leeks and garlic and saute for 5-7 minutes. Stir in the farro and toast for 3 minutes while stirring.
3. Turn up the heat and add the wine. Cook while continuing to stir until wine has evaporated. At this point begin adding ladles of stock while stirring, allow almost all of the stock to simmer away before adding another.
4. Continue this process until farro is almost fully cooked, about 35-40 minutes. In the last 5-8 minutes stir in the peas and asparagus and continue to cook until the vegetables are crisp tender. Turn off the heat and fold in the herbs and cheese.
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[@recoveringacademic]

Watching Struggle Meals is like watching Blues Clues for adults who cook 😂😂😂

[@FrankieCooks]

jnance900 that’s the idea

[@thenerdymillennial]

Omg get out of my brain!!! Lol😹😹😹

[@debcham547]

That’s so freaking accurate!!

[@lilcrombie]

Ahahhaha

[@kellym2886]

Frankie twirling ribbons while wearing a flower garland made my week

[@FrankieCooks]

Kelly M it caught me by surprise too

[@bethlovesthings]

I'm a nutrition major, just about to graduate. I recommend your channel to literally all the students and lecturers I meet or whenever anyone brings up cooking cheap and healthy food. I hope you never ever stop doing what you are doing and letting your personality shine through at the same time 💖💖💖💖

[@FrankieCooks]

Bee Elle thanks so much, and happy to hear we’re making it healthy enough for a nutritionist, it’s been a goal of ours!

[@EvilAtlas]

Im fat... send help

[@garaj1]

5:31 someone give the editing team a raise for that

[@caroletsengouras7570]

What a great idea of a stock bucket!!! Genius

[@MagicianFairy]

We started with mushroom risotto and we are in the middle of spring risotto. Hopefully we get a nice winter risotto.

[@kaythesimp9424]

This is what I watch at 3 in the morning every single night I'm tired what am I doing I have schoolwork tomorrow xd

[@Tech-vd7qs]

Your passion for food is infectious and inspiring. Dont ever change!

[@NoorAnomaly]

Can totally eat the green parts of leek. I do it all the time.

[@nickarvas9566]

This channel's a great find!

[@ellatoler4046]

A farrotoe, love it. Frankie, as always is a day maker!

[@SoTypicallyMeh]

It would be easier for Frankie to wash his veggies if Tastemade upgraded that fake Home Depot mockup sink behind him into a real, plumbed sink.

[@thomasbeebe-wurzer3061]

They need to give him a real sink

[@FrankieCooks]

Meh I need 100k petitioners to make it happen

[@roccoskitchen8302]

Farroto!! Hell yeah I love farro and this looks amazing!

[@lightonstillwaters6789]

Fabulous! Thank you for inspiration.

[@thedeleted1337]

This randomly came across my feed and I'm thankful for it. The content is great. My only criticism is if you could put the basic nutrition info such as calories fat carb and protein to these dishes that would be so helpful

[@siyas3246]

🤤 Looks so yum

[@lkjkhfggd]

Hi Frankie, in regards to your herb garden, do you actually leave the herbs there and they get enough energy from artificial light, or are they normally outside and you bring them in before shooting struggle meals?

[@myusernameisbadass]

I've always wondered this

[@FrankieCooks]

lkjkhfggd they move around a lot

[@brendaokuda2158]

Excellent! Thank you

[@ToomaShii91]

Love this guy, where did u come from!

[@virginianonis7770]

2:11 was expecting the "Clean your leeks" song

[@DigitalMoneyMichelle]

💜

[@tanyachard3900]

How long do your broth scraps last? Do you make broth often? What kind of veggie scraps would you not use? Thanks.

[@hannahrose7601]

Thaaank you for calling it “healthful” instead of “healthy.” A+ cooking, A+ grammar. Love it 😂😂

[@samaraisnt]

Can you use eggshells for a broth ? Also, how come we use the leftover scraps but the peels of the peas are reserved for later? Too pea tasting or just to illustrate we should always be saving scraps? TY ily... 🥺

[@susannminall7456]

QUESTION: How did all this (Struggle Meals) start? Are you a professionally trained, chef? Is this your main job, side job, or hobby? I both love and am fascinated with what you are doing. I have always wondered what drew people into the professions that they have chosen.

[@mikaelmikael200]

He actually talked about his background on a Q & A. Not sure if it was this channel tho

[@debbiemercer5298]

I've been craving risotto for the past several weeks but couldn't find the rice. I never thought of farro! I have farro grande (aka: spelt). Would I be able to use that instead?

[@yerinlee211]

Yes

[@bluegypsy71]

JIGGLE that risotto😅👍

[@xxPorcupine]

How long can you keep the scraps for stock r? I don't cook frequently enough to be able to make a stock at the end of my meals, well I mean there's not enough scraps.

[@mikaelmikael200]

You could try to freeze the scraps, pull them when you think you have enough

[@ninaking5181]

How many hours? Days?

[@misspeppermintblack7200]

You can absolutely eat the stems of asparagus you just have to peel the end of little bit

[@xxxkatiemikexxx]

I love your recipes but please stop throwing the green of the leek away 😂 welsh girl here and a tiny bit of my heart breaks each time you say this lol

[@jayarreola8397]

Frankie I love your recipes and videos but your plating skills could use some work, that’s a huge portion

[@deepra_]

Boiling scrap veggies for 2 hours to make stock... maybe you should take the cost of energy into account, and maybe even the carbon footprint?

[@Sagealeena]

La Mort Heureuse carbon footprint of buying premise stock is going to be much worse, don’t forget about the factory that has to make that stock and the packaging that has to be used for it! Making your own stock is super easy, I do at least one a week!