I love love love this recipe! I've never been the biggest fan of risotto - I don't dislike it, but it's just never excited me. Probably because it's so often the only veggie option in a restaurant and nine times out of ten it will be a mushroom risotto and I hate mushrooms (I know, what kind of vegetarian hates mushrooms?!) But this risotto has quickly become one of my go-to veggie dinners and it's one of the meat-free dishes that J is totally on board with. If you wanted some meat in this though I'd simply slice up some spicy sausages, fry them off and add at the end.
Other than the attentive stirring required, it's a pretty low-maintenance dish. The veg roasts in the oven while you cook the rice, then it's just a matter of stirring it all together and you're all set. It's a brilliant mid-end Summer dish as you can use up all of those lovely ripe tomatoes. I've been quite jealous of friends and family that have an abundance of home-grown tomatoes at the moment - I reckon this dish would be goooorgeous with the addition of these. But with my little London living set-up, I've happily plumped for some sweet piccolo tomatoes from the supermarket which do the job!
Serves 4
Ingredients 1 medium aubergine, chopped 1 medium courgette, chopped 1 red pepper, chopped 300g piccolo tomatoes (or similar) olive oil 1 red onion 3 cloves garlic 1 tsp dried oregano 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar 225g arborio rice 500g passata 600ml vegetable stock salt and pepper parmesan and fresh basil to serve Method
1. Preheat the oven to 200C. Place the chopped aubergine, courgette and red pepper on one baking tray and the tomatoes on a second tray. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 30 minutes.
2. Add the passata and vegetable stock to a medium saucepan and leave on a low heat.
3. Fry the onion in olive oil until softened. Add the garlic and dried oregano and fry for another minute or two. Add the balsamic vinegar and rice, stir to coat the rice. Add a ladle-full of the stock/passata mix and stir until the rice has absorbed all liquid. Continue this process, one ladle at a time, ensuring the rice has absorbed the liquid before adding more. It should take about 20-30 minutes for the rice to cook. Add more water if necessary.
4. Once the rice is cooked, stir through the roasted veg and tomatoes. Season to taste and add a generous amount of grated parmesan, stir through and top with fresh basil.
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