Too Much Risotto!

Tonight I decided to make risotto for dinner. Risotto is very much a comfort food to me... it's creamy and cheesy, and it fills me up. Risotto isn't hard to make; it just takes a bit of time and lots of love and attention. I purchased some of the ingredients for my risotto from Whole Foods in Manhattan, but the rest I got at the local grocery store in the Bronx. I can usually find everything I need in the Bronx, and it's not as expensive as Whole Foods, but I will occasionally stop there for some special items that I think are worth paying the price for. I bought the mushrooms and Arborio rice at Whole Foods, and everything else came from the Bronx. It's important to use Arborio rice when making risotto, because it's so starchy. I didn't realize at first that my ingredients would yield so much risotto, but I'll have it to eat for the next few days, at least. So this is a precaution... this recipe makes enough for about 4 or 5 people!

Half of one large Vidalia onion
8 0z. mushrooms (I had a mix of baby bella mushrooms, button mushrooms, and a few other kinds, but you can use whatever kind you prefer)
4 cups (32 oz.) vegetable stock or chicken stock
Olive oil
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, plus extra for sprinkling
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup dry white wine, optional (I actually skipped this ingredient, as we didn't have any in the apartment at the time)

Heat the vegetable stock in a pot over medium-high heat, turning off the heat once the stock boils. While the stock is heating, chop the onion. Clean and slice the mushrooms. Coat a large, heavy sauté pan generously with olive oil and heat over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the onions and cook until translucent, about 7 minutes. Don't let the onions brown. Salt the onions to taste. Add the rice and stir, until the rice begins to look translucent around the edges. If using white wine, add the wine and stir until the liquid has been soaked up. Using a ladle, scoop about 2 ladles full of the broth into the sauté pan. Stir the rice until the liquid has absorbed. Add one more ladle of broth, and stir again until it's been absorbed. Continue, one ladle at a time, until about 2/3 of the broth has been used up. Add the mushrooms and the cheese and stir, then continue to add the rest of the broth one ladle at a time, just like before. Once all of the liquid has been absorbed into the rice, taste for salt, and add more if necessary. Serve steaming hot, with a grind of fresh pepper, and Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.

Note: If the rice is not cooked all the way when you taste it at the end, heat some water in a pot and add that one ladle at a time, like the stock, until cooked through. Also, if you don't like mushrooms, you can substitute asparagus, and if you don't like that, well, then, be creative! And one more thing: I have two roommates who are vegan. If you have friends that don't eat cheese and would like to partake in your delicious risotto, don't add the cheese until the very end, so they can scoop some out for themselves just before you put it in.