tomato & parmesan risotto
This a great family risotto as everyones loves cheese and tomato, right? It works really well with garlic ciabatta - another kid favourite and a green salad (kids, not so much). I always return to this recipe when I want something that tastes grown up, but keeps everyone happy.
Ingredients
Serves 4
500g baby plum tomatoes
½ tsp dried thyme
1 medium onion
1 large clove garlic
200ml of white wine, or 100ml Sherry (see note below)
350g risotto rice
I vegetable stock cube plus 1L boiling water or 1L fresh veg stock (see note below)
1 tbsp tomato purée
15-20g fresh basil, stalks finely chopped / leaves torn
50g parmesan, finely grated
A knob of butter
1 tsp sea salt
method
Preheat the oven to 200ºc
Spread the tomatoes on a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt and thyme. Roast for 20 minutes until starting to brown on the tray, turn gently and put back in for 10 minutes.
Use a spatula to scrape the tomatoes into a bowl and set aside.
Pour 200ml of boiling water into the tray and scrape off all the flavour packed residue with a silicone spatula, reserve this to add to the rice with the stock later.
Heat ½ tbsp olive oil and a knob of butter in a large pan and fry the onion gently for 10 minutes until softened. Melt the stock cube in 1L of boiling water or warm on the hob / in the microwave if using fresh.
Add the garlic to the onion and cook for 1 minute.
Next add the risotto rice to the onion mix and stir well to coat, then turn up the heat and pour in the wine or Sherry. Allow the harsh alcohol taste to bubble off and the rice to absorb most of the wine, then turn the heat down and start to add the stock. I usually pour in about a ladle or 100ml at a time and gently stir to combine. Let the rice simmer and each time it has absorbed most of the stock, add another ladle.
The rice will need to cook for approx 20 minutes, but after 12 minutes add the roasted tomatoes with the ‘stock’ from deglazing the tray, the tomato purée, plus chopped basil stalks.
Keep adding the rest of the stock for another 6-8 minutes, check that the rice is cooked (it should still have a little bite) and finish by stirring in 40g parmesan, a knob of butter, torn basil leaves and salt. Serve with the remaining 10g of grated parmesan.
Add a little more water if needed - a risotto shouldn’t stand up in your bowl, it should melt to the sides.
If you want to make garlic ciabatta, prep while the rice is cooking and grill in the last 3-4 minutes before the risotto is ready.
tip
A note about stock - if I’m using a cube then I will double the amount of water recommended on the pack, so for this recipe I just used one cube for one litre of water. Otherwise you’ll end up tasting the stock cube rather than it being a savoury back note.
I don’t always want to open a bottle of wine just for cooking, so I keep a bottle of sherry or Vermouth in the cupboard to use for risotto. It doesn’t go off like wine, so you can just use a glass as and when you need it.
I use a Microplane or fine grater for the cheese and garlic.