By Week 243. Hank's health declining visibly, sleeping 20 hours, I know what's coming
The kitchen continues its work. Every week, the stove is lit and the meals are made and the family gathers at the table — a table that now holds four people, two dogs, and the accumulated weight of six years of cooking through everything life has thrown at this family. The table holds. It always holds.
The rhythm of this life — Tom\'s morning coffee, my evening cooking, Mason\'s questions, Lily\'s horses, Hank\'s slow decline, the garden\'s steady production — is the rhythm I chose. Not the rhythm I was given. Cancer gave me a different rhythm: infusion, crash, recover, repeat. Divorce gave another: manage, endure, rebuild, repeat. But this rhythm — cook, eat, love, repeat — this one I chose. This one I built. And it plays in the kitchen every night, the same song with new verses, the same recipe with small variations, the same life getting better by degrees so small you only notice them when you look back and see how far you\'ve come.
I made food this week that reflects where I am: Hank's chicken and rice, gentle food. The food is the evidence. The food is always the evidence — of who I am, of what I\'ve survived, of the people I feed and the love I put on plates. The recipe is the record. The kitchen is the archive. And I am the cook, standing at the stove, stirring, waiting, serving, and beginning again tomorrow.
Hank has been sleeping in the patch of sun by the back door, and I’ve been watching him more than I’ve been watching anything else — the way he breathes, the way he rises slowly now, the way he still thumps his tail when I open the refrigerator. This week called for something slow and stirred, something that kept my hands busy and my heart anchored, and chicken risotto was the answer: warm, creamy, forgiving, the kind of food that asks nothing of you except patience. I made a small plain portion for Hank alongside ours, just chicken and rice, soft and gentle, the way you feed someone you are already beginning to grieve.
Chicken Risotto
Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 35 minutes | Total Time: 45 minutes | Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
- 5 cups low-sodium chicken broth, warmed
- 1 small yellow onion, finely diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup dry white wine (or additional broth)
- 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- Fresh parsley, chopped, for garnish
Instructions
- Warm the broth. Pour the chicken broth into a medium saucepan and heat over low until just simmering. Keep warm throughout cooking.
- Cook the chicken. Heat olive oil in a large, deep skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Season chicken pieces with salt, pepper, and thyme. Cook for 5–6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden and cooked through. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
- Saute the aromatics. Reduce heat to medium. Add butter to the same pan. Once melted, add onion and cook for 3–4 minutes until softened. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more until fragrant.
- Toast the rice. Add the Arborio rice to the pan and stir to coat in the butter and onion mixture. Cook for 1–2 minutes until the edges of the rice look slightly translucent.
- Deglaze. Pour in the white wine and stir continuously until fully absorbed, about 2 minutes.
- Add broth gradually. Add the warm broth one ladleful at a time, stirring frequently and allowing each addition to absorb before adding the next. Continue for 20–22 minutes until the rice is creamy and cooked al dente.
- Finish the risotto. Return the cooked chicken to the pan. Stir in the Parmesan cheese and adjust salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat.
- Serve. Spoon into bowls and garnish with fresh parsley. Serve immediately while creamy.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 520 | Protein: 38g | Fat: 16g | Carbs: 52g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 480mg