Got chatting in the gym last week. Client : "I'd quite like to make risotto, is it difficult?". Well, no, not the way I do it. Sometimes, especially when the nights are drawing in, I just fancy a bit of risotto... Leftovers can easily be made into arancini (posh sounding rice balls...) or even my tasty balls with spicy broth.
We had ours with roast chicken and baked tomatoes. But, as always, feel free to pimp your dinner however you fancy. I happened to make mine vegan, just by chance (simply a lack of parmesan, if the truth be known), and they are wheat and gluten free too (but check your stock cubes to be sure).
Recipe (serves two hungry people):
1 large onion, chopped and fried until soft.
150g risotto rice
About 1 pint "stock" - see later....
75g parmesan, or two tsp nutritional yeast
Simply bung onion, rice and stock into a casserole dish, cover it, and bake at 200 (180 fan) for about 30 mins.
About 10 mins before the end, add the cheese, or nutritional yeast (note: worth doing as a cheese eater too if you're avoiding dairy/reducing fat). See below for other tasty additions at this point...
The "stock" is some lovely combo of veggie stock (or chicken if non-veggie), any leftover wine (yes, I know, no such thing as 'leftover' wine), or a slug of vermouth (Pernod is also interesting) if you happen to have such a thing.
Possibilities to add ten mins before the end (it should all cook in time):
A handful of frozen broad beans, and a handful of frozen peas.
Zest and juice of one lemon, couple of handfuls raw prawns.
Blue cheese, asparagus.
Salmon (chopped small, you can leave this raw), plus mint and dill to serve.
I've also done this "risotto milanese" styley - in which case add a pinch of saffron to the stock.
It's not as good as a lovingly stirred risotto. But it's not far off, and involves 20 mins less tedious stirring....
And, here is the clincher, Mr Strongman Fitness made this for me while I was out jumping around (=working) last week. And if he can do it minus supervision, then it's got to be a goody....
We had ours with roast chicken and baked tomatoes. But, as always, feel free to pimp your dinner however you fancy. I happened to make mine vegan, just by chance (simply a lack of parmesan, if the truth be known), and they are wheat and gluten free too (but check your stock cubes to be sure).
Recipe (serves two hungry people):
1 large onion, chopped and fried until soft.
150g risotto rice
About 1 pint "stock" - see later....
75g parmesan, or two tsp nutritional yeast
Simply bung onion, rice and stock into a casserole dish, cover it, and bake at 200 (180 fan) for about 30 mins.
About 10 mins before the end, add the cheese, or nutritional yeast (note: worth doing as a cheese eater too if you're avoiding dairy/reducing fat). See below for other tasty additions at this point...
The "stock" is some lovely combo of veggie stock (or chicken if non-veggie), any leftover wine (yes, I know, no such thing as 'leftover' wine), or a slug of vermouth (Pernod is also interesting) if you happen to have such a thing.
Possibilities to add ten mins before the end (it should all cook in time):
A handful of frozen broad beans, and a handful of frozen peas.
Zest and juice of one lemon, couple of handfuls raw prawns.
Blue cheese, asparagus.
Salmon (chopped small, you can leave this raw), plus mint and dill to serve.
I've also done this "risotto milanese" styley - in which case add a pinch of saffron to the stock.
It's not as good as a lovingly stirred risotto. But it's not far off, and involves 20 mins less tedious stirring....
And, here is the clincher, Mr Strongman Fitness made this for me while I was out jumping around (=working) last week. And if he can do it minus supervision, then it's got to be a goody....
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