Zucchini Tomato Risotto

I have published risotto recipes on this site before but never one quite like this, my mother first introduced to me this concept and I rather like it, this dish uses slow roasted tomatoes and tomato passata, added to the rice just before it has finished cooking to add sweetness, and it's truly a revelation, my only stipulation with this recipe is that you must make it in summer, tomatoes grown in a greenhouse in December simply won't provide enough delicate sweetness.

Around an hour or so before you wish to eat drizzle some olive oil into the bottom of a glass ovenproof dish and add the cherry tomatoes, add another drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of sea salt flakes to the tomatoes and place them in a medium oven for an hour or until they have shriveled.

Dice a white onion and heat some vegetable oil with a knob of butter in a large heavy-based frying pan. Fry the onion until translucent and soft and add a teaspoon of ground coriander. Make up your stock in a jug. Add the arborio rice and turn in the oil until it is shiny and coated. Brown lightly and add a splash of vermouth. Cook off the alcohol until the pan is relatively dry and no longer smells alcoholic. Add the stock a splash at a time until it has all been absorbed and the rice is still firm, but tender.

Meanwhile, dice the courgette and fry it lightly in butter until it has browned. When the rice is cooked add the passata and stir, allow to reduce slightly then add the grated parmesan and stir until it has melted. Add the courgette and the roasted tomatoes and combine. Serve garnished with chopped coriander leaves.

ingredients

1 medium white onion

300g arborio rice

vegetable oil

small knob unsalted butter

small splash vermouth

500ml vegetable stock

50g grated parmesan

150ml tomato passata

100g cherry tomatoes

2 courgettes

small pinch sea salt flakes

Rice n' Cheese

I'm rather proud of this dish, and it's even gotten housemate approval. I'm not the biggest fan of mac and cheese, the cheese sauce tends to be very heavy and claggy and if you don't use the right cheddar then it tends to also be flavourless. This recipe is based upon my desire to create a dish with all the creamy deliciousness of mac and cheese, but without the toil and stress of making a decent cheese sauce, something I don't find especially easy. I do specify an extra mature cheddar below, and this is very important, milder less piquant varieties won't provide the same depth of flavour or sharpness which is welcome in a smooth dish like this.

Instead of using pasta, I have used rice, or to be more specific, risotto. I included a recipe for cheddar cheese risotto on this blog a while back, and this is somewhat a variation on that. You will notice that the ingredients are significantly more scant than I normally supply, and this is very intentional, given that this dish is so rich, you will only be able to eat a relatively small portion, though you can double it up as you wish.

Start by peeling and finely chopping a quarter of a large red onion, and fry it gently in oil with a pinch of sea salt flakes until translucent but not browned. Add the rice and turn in the oil for a few minutes with a wooden spoon. Make up the vegetable stock, and add it a little at a time, stirring until the liquid has absorbed, and repeat, until all the stock has been soaked up and the rice is tender. Stir in some freshly ground black pepper and a little salt and remove from the heat.

Chop the cheddar into small chunks and add them to the risotto, stir until all the cheese has melted and combined with the rice, and transfer it all to a small ovenproof dish.

In a small bowl make the topping by mixing breadcrumbs with freshly grated parmesan and some ground black pepper, spoon over the top and bake in a medium hot oven for 15 minutes, or until the top has browned and is bubbling.

ingredients

200g arborio rice
600ml vegetable or chicken stock
1/4 red onion, diced
vegetable oil
50g extra mature cheddar cheese
3 tablespoons breadcrumbs or matzo meal
2 tablespoons finely ground parmesan
salt & pepper

Roasted Vegetable Risotto

I made this for the first time last night on a whim, and I will admit that I am quite taken with it. I invented this recipe fairly randomly, after my friends asked me to cook them dinner, and it was thankfully successful.

Start by slow roasting your vegetables, I used courgettes, red onion and red peppers, but you could also use any vegetables you like. Dice the vegetables into small chunks and sprinkle them with a little salt and some freshly ground black pepper, drizzle them with olive oil and toss, ensuring that they are fully coated in the oil. Grate or mince over a few cloves of garlic, and place them into a medium hot oven for about half an hour. About 10 minutes before the risotto is due to be finished, add some sun dried tomatoes, which add a nice tang to the risotto.

After the vegetables have been cooking for around 10 minutes, start on your risotto, finely chop half a red onion and put it into a mini blender to achieve a fine chop. Put the contents of the blender into a large frying pan with some salt and pepper and sweat it off for a few minutes on a high heat. Add the rice, and a little white wine if you wish, and cook off the wine, stirring as it cooks.

Make up your stock, and you will need quite a lot, I normally make about a litre to start off with, and then when the first litre has been absorbed, I taste the rice to see how chewy it is, and how much more stock it will require. Add the stock a bit at a time stirring with a wooden spoon until the stock has absorbed and then adding more, continue until all the stock has been absorbed and the rice is tender.

When the rice is cooked take the frying pan off the heat and add a large knob of butter, add some parmesan and stir it into the risotto. Remove the vegetables from the oven and add the risotto to the tray, use wooden spoons to toss the risotto and the vegetables together until combined, and serve, on warmed plates.

I created this on a whim and I will admit that I am immensely proud of it, it has a vibrancy and tang that makes it the perfect antidote to bland and boring white risottos, which so often lack interest and taste. This also makes the perfect dish for feeding a lot of people, as upscaling the quantities is pretty simple.

Ingredients

400g arborio rice
1 litre vegetable or chicken stock
small glug or white wine or vermouth
90g freshly grated parmesan
3 courgettes, diced
3 red peppers, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
salt & pepper
olive oil
large knob butter

Pea & Leek Pasta Risotto

This is a little gem of a recipe, and part of the reason that it is so wonderful is that everything that you need for this dish is non perishable, and will keep for at least a month in the fridge. This makes this a great standby dish. You will need a specific type of pasta for this recipe, often called orzo, which is often used in soup, and which is shaped similarly to large grains of rice. This pasta is cooked in a frying pan, rather than a saucepan, much like a risotto, but it has an advantage over risotto because it doesn't require stirring. I must credit Nigella Lawson for the inspiration behind this recipe, as I often do, which I have adapted slightly since I discovered it a couple of years ago.

Firstly chop your leek finely, and fry it in a scant amount of oil in a hot frying pan, seasoning lightly. Add two large handfuls of frozen peas to the pan, and stir allowing them to soften slightly in the hot oil. At this point, if you like you may add some pancetta, finely chopped to the pan, and allow it to brown. Pour the orzo pasta into the pan, and put the kettle on to boil, stirring the frying pan to mix. Add the boiling water to the pan and turn the heat down to a medium low heat.

After about ten minutes most of the water will have evaporated and the pasta will be tender, start stirring to ensure that the pasta doesn't stick and take the pan off the heat. Add a large knob of butter to the top of the pasta, and allow it to melt, making the pasta slight and glossy. Finally add some parmesan cheese and some freshly crushed pepper, stirring to combine.

I can't state enough how charming this recipe is, it's perfect for a weekday dinner curled up on the sofa and eaten out of a bowl in front of the television.

Ingredients

olive oil
1 leek
150g pancetta cubes (optional)
150g frozen peas
boiling water
250g Orzo pasta
salt & pepper (to taste)
parmesan cheese (to taste)
large knob of butter