This turned out to be the best risotto I've ever made. truely magical in its rich deliciousnes

I started with the salt chicken. When its just philippe and I, we tend to eat everythign but the breasts, which we save for a next day omelette or soup. This time philippe made a stock with the carcass of the chicken. he covered it with water, added a bay leaf and some thyme and let it simmer for hours, adding a bit more water here and there to keep the chicken covered. It's possible to just simmer a couple hours in the evening, then let it sit overnight instead, we've done this and come to no harm.

So I have this lovely broth, and the chicken breasts. I also rehydrated some sun dry tomatoes and dried wild mushroom mix in about two cups of water.

then I did the risotto in more or less the usual way. I did use duck fat rahter than olive oil to brown the rice and onions, since we've got a big tub we bought at polarika. So: brown minced onions (a whole big sweet onion) and a cup and a half of risotto. Oh, also I had the risotto sitting for a month in a tub in the fridge with a truffle keepign it company. It may have affected things.

So when the risotto was brownish, i begain adding the broth, a half cup at a time and a palmful of herb de provence. I kept stirring. When I ran out of broth, i strained the water from the rehydrated mushrooms and tomatoes and added that, still slowly. When the risotto started to get creamy and the rice was dente, I chopped up and tossed in the chicken breast, mushrooms and tomatoes. I stirred until the risotto was just right, and then we ate.

it was great.