Sauteed scallops with vegetable risotto

A special dinner for any occasion, or no occasion...

I love risotto. For me, it is pure comfort food, and the bonus here is it's good for you. I started by sauteeing onion in a bit of olive oil for a couple minutes before adding the arborio (short-grain) rice. It is important to stir the rice to make sure each grain gets coated with oil. Then I started adding warm chicken stock. Whenever possible, I prefer to add homemade stock as the flavour is just so much better than store-bought. I added the stock a little at a time and stirred until it was absorbed by the rice. In total, I added about 4-5 cups of stock to 2 cups of rice. Once all the stock was absorbed, I added about 1 cup of white wine and stirred it in so it was absorbed. I then removed the pan from the heat and stirred in 1/2 a cup of asiago cheese, 2 tablespoons of butter (for flavour and richness), and the vegetables (summer squash, asparagus, and carrots) which I had already steamed. The risotto would make a fantastic meal at this point, but to make it really special, I topped it with sauteed sea scallops which take less than 5 minutes to cook. So good...it's one of my current favorites.