Spinach Risotto [Cooking For One]

Another weird microwave monstrosity from the Cooking For One cookbook. This "risotto" (aka brown rice with some cheese) is entirely cooked in the microwave for way too long and, well, not to spoil anything, but it tastes like it. I'm just glad this didn't start an electrical fire.

Cookbook Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp butter
• 3 oz (85g) brown rice
• 1 small onion, sliced thin
• 1 cup vegetable stock, warmed
• 1/2 oz (14g) walnuts, roughly chopped
• 2 oz (57g) frozen chopped spinach, thawed, or fresh spinach, chopped
• 1/2 oz (14g) grated Parmesan
• fresh ground pepper and sea salt
• 1 tomato, in quarters, as garnish

Following the recipe exactly:

Yum.

1. Find the most microwaveable dish you own, because it's going to see a lot of action. All microwaving is done at HIGH. Melt the butter in the dish by microwaving it 1 minute. Stir in the rice and onion until coated, then microwave for 2 minutes.

Have mercy on me

2. Pour in the stock, partially cover and genuinely microwave it for 30-35 minutes. I kept on waiting for my microwave to short out or explode, since water was running down the inside of the door, but everything survived. Unsurprisingly, the rice around the edges is burnt.

Am I surprised?

3. Stir in the walnuts and spinach and microwave for another 5 minutes. Stir in the cheese and season to taste, garnishing with the tomatoes.

The Outcome:

This sucks. It's half burnt, it made me afraid my kitchen would burn down, and burnt rice bits aside, there's not a lot going on here apart from the Parmesan. I have no idea why they felt the need to use the microwave, this could be cooked in the same time on the stove (and probably would taste better too - you'd get to brown the onion up first). Hell, you cold probably cook an actual risotto in the time it takes to nuke this shitshow.