John, our mothers were trained in the same culinary school. CD, the risotto sounds delicious as to the stock we buy chicken wings as cheap as we an get em' and presssure cook them to make our stock and add nothing other than water. Herself being premier peasant here then rescues the scraps of meat to be combined with herbs and spices and turned into 'something with rice or pasta' with the essential veg.
Today I used some of that frozen stock with equal parts potatoes and sliced leeks plus mixed herbs and simmered for an hour to make a stew eaten at lunch with wholemeal bread. The blackcurrant crumble that followed was, shall we say, just a little sharp to the taste due to Herself being diabetic. decadent me lashed it with very sweet custard.