The Secret to Unforgettable Risotto

This one ingredient changes everything

Forget the romance of “April in Paris.” For me, October is THE month to be there.

For a long time, Paris in October was cold and damp. April was warm and sunny. But the months seemed to have flip flopped over the years.

(I took this picture in October 2022. It says it all!)

Hanging by the Scene - October 2022

When I decided to leave the corporate world in 2016, my goal was to create a business doing something I love that would also give me the income, flexibility, and freedom to work on my own terms. My son was in 8th grade. So at that time, I wanted to be a more present and involved mom.

I absolutely LOVED those years. Yes, they were far from easy. I was newly single, learning a new craft (copywriting), and trying to start a business on my own.

But every time I drove my son to school, or picked him up, I counted my blessings. And I was so grateful every time I could cheer him on from the sidelines of his soccer and rugby games.

Then in August 2022, he headed off on his gap year trip. And I was suddenly an empty-nester.

Everyone warned me how tough it would be… how my life would feel empty and I’d have to find a new purpose.

Well no sooner had my son packed his bags than my new purpose popped into my head…

Paris!

Since I had built a business that I could do from anywhere, why not do it from Paris?

Ever since I spent a year living in Paris as a student in the 1980s, it had been my dream to go back and live there for a while. And it seemed like the perfect time.

So I decided to give it try, starting with a month.

I rented an apartment on the Rue de Rivoli, and set off for what became my first “mini relocation.”

As a farmers’ market junkie, Paris (really all of France) is mecca. There are numerous open-air markets throughout the city. So I charted out where they were each day.

The first market I headed to was in the 17th arrondissement – Le Marché Biologique des Batignolles (the organic market). And since it was the fall, mushrooms were in season.

I found some adorable milk caps and decided to make risotto.

People often consider risotto a labor of love because you have to stir it constantly for the 20-30 minutes it takes to cook.

But for me, cooking risotto is a labor of love because it takes me 2 days to make it. That’s because the secret to an unforgettable risotto starts with cooking something you won’t even use in it…

If you’re serious about risotto, you need to cook a chicken

Why? Because the secret ingredient in risotto is excellent chicken stock. You simply can’t use store-bought stock. It’s not good enough (not even the kind you buy in France).

So I bought a cut up organic chicken, the ingredients for the stock (leeks, carrots, onion, celery, and some herbs), flageolet beans and stewed tomatoes (for the chicken), and some good extra virgin olive oil and parmesan cheese. Then I headed back to the Rue de Rivoli to start cooking.

I started off making a delicious chicken dish.

First I browned the chicken. Then I put the pieces in the bottom of a dutch oven and added a mirepoix (chopped carrots, celery, and onions) to the pan.

After they softened for a bit, I added the drained flageolets beans, tomatoes, and 1/2 a bottle of white wine. I seasoned it with salt and pepper, mixed it all together, and poured it on top of the chicken pieces.

Then I topped it off with a head of garlic cut in half, some fresh thyme sprigs, and popped it in the oven.

Chicken with flageolets beans

Within 20 minutes, my apartment was filled with the most divine aroma!

About an hour later, I was sitting at my table, enjoying the dish with a chilled glass of white and a fresh baguette.

Then the next morning, I put the chicken bones, leeks, carrots, celery, and herbs in a pot of water. I let them simmer on the stove for a few hours, infusing the liquid with flavor, while I did some writing.

That evening, I made a classic risotto with my stock. When it was ready, I added the milk cap mushrooms that I’d sautéd in garlic and parsley. I finished it off with some shaved parmesan and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

It was amazing! You just can’t get that depth of flavor any other way.

And lucky for me, I had enough stock left over to make a squash risotto later during my stay. (That’s the first photo.)

Now I have a question for you…

If you’ve been with me for a while, you know my writing usually focuses on things to help you build a successful health coaching business.

I sprinkle bits of “me” and my travels into my posts when I can, but it’s not always easy to make a connection to something that’s related to growing your business.

That said, I feel my stories really are related to your business because my goal is to help you create a business that would allow you to live the kind of life you dream about, like I do.

I want to help you create a business that lets you work on your own terms.

So I wrote this piece with the intent of sharing more of me as a person. But after I wrote it, I realized it does relate to creating a successful business. Because everything we create relies on having a solid foundation. Whether it’s a house, a relationship, risotto, or your business.

You need a solid foundation to make it work. In the case of your coaching business, that foundation includes 3 things:

1. An offer people desperately want

2. A reason why you’re the obvious best person to help them achieve what they want

3. Marketing assets to get you in front of your dream clients and make them eager to take the next step with you

I’ve already writing articles that talk about the first 2. (Links to some of them below.) I’ll be covering that last one in an upcoming post, probably the one slated for Christmas Eve. It will be about the 2 best marketing assets that make getting clients much easier!

In the meantime, I’d love to know if you enjoyed this post, and if you’d like me to sprinkle in stories of my travels every now and then, even if they don’t relate to building your business.

Let me know in the comments!

Here are links to some related articles:

I talked about how to create an offer people desperately want in these 2 posts:

The Proven Health Coach Success Formula This formula stacks the marketing odds in your favor so you can stop struggling and start getting more clients

Why The “Pick a Niche” Advice Backfires … and how health coaches can avoid picking a niche that will keep them broke

You can read about how to show people you’re the obvious best person to help them here:

How to Get More People to Choose Your Health Coaching Service Coaches who include this in their Signature System get people saying, “Here’s my money! How soon can I start?”

😍 5 Game-Changing Messages Every Coach Needs These powerful messages make you the obvious best choice for your dream clients