After a successful first attempt at risotto I was excited to experiment with other varieties of this great dish.  I just wasn’t sure how to incorporate different ingredients but still getting that creamy taste of the risotto.  I figured that shrimp would go nicely with the risotto and so now it was just a matter of figuring out the rest of the elements to the dish.

A few months ago after picking up Giada De Laurentiis’ Everyday Italian cookbook I made roasted red peppers for the first time.  They were very easy and give a great taste to any dish, I figured they would go nicely with the shrimp.  Just adding some chopped onion and a little garlic I was ready to make the risotto.

Since I was going to be cooking with shrimp I decided that vegetable broth was going to be a better fit than chicken broth, it worked out wonderfully.  My second attempt at risotto, complete with an entirely improvised recipe, turned out great.  The only thing I might do differently next time would be to add the shrimp at the very end to keep from over cooking.

Now that I am slightly obsessed with risotto I hope to keep finding different things to mix with it.  Each time I make it I will find the elements that work and those that don’t while at the same time building my confidence in improvising.  It is always fun trying new things.