All hail risotto

 This is your 24 hour Confined Cookalong notification. Because risotto is very serious business, yes. And it did become a running joke in the Confined Kitchen as early as March, at a time when we very badly needed things that make you smile. So it seems fitting to do a diffuse, rather process-focused long distance dinner party by means of cookalong risotto. 

I'm going to be on twitter/at the stove from 6ish, but feel free to start at a time that feels logical for you. There are no rules (and indeed if you loathe risotto you are more than welcome to cook something else), but if you'd like to play along to the max, I'd suggest the following are Good Tweetage Moments. I'd want to know, anyway...

• Declare yourself a cookalonger on the #ConfinedCookalong hashtag when you start. Are you cooking alone/in company/for tonight/for next week's lunches? Are you a risotto regular or is this a new thing?
• Tell us what you're cooking. Is there a recipe? An improvisation? Is either Francesca or the shade of Marcella Hazan going to haunt the hashtag, bashing us with a copy of Classic Italian Cooking? (I hope not, it's hefty. My copy has been propping up my laptop since March, though I did get it out for this occasion.)

Ow.

•  Vegetables: what do you use as a base? Onions? Leeks? Fennel? Mirepoix? Mushrooms? My grandmother was taught to make risotto milanese by a retired Italian navy chef who made her chop onions till she wept. Do you have similar pedigrees for your risotto veg? Are you weeping at this point?
• Rice and stock phase: do you fry your rice off? Is there wine on the rice before stock? Your own stock or a cube or just water? Do you ladle your stock in one at a time? Are you an oven-bunger or a stovetop-stirrer? Do you have a glass of wine to hand, even if it's not in the pan? Or are you going cocktail options?
  
• Flavourings and finishings: what goes in late? Parmesan? Soft veg? Are you a leave-it-for-5-minutes person? An al dente? A soft wave stage?
• Scoffing: how is it for you? Reviews? Reflections? Hellos to your fellow cookalongers!
  

Aaaaaand then onto the cocktails if you haven't already... I'm not sure I'm going to time this all that well tbh. But I will get onto the #ConfinedCocktails thread from 7 even if I'm munching rice too. 

Have fun, and see you on twitter if you're joining!