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.

Sweet potato & leek risotto with rocket pesto

The great thing about risotto is that it’s good at any time of the year. It can be a hearty warming bowl with fresh bread in the colder months, or a light tasty dish with a crisp green salad in the spring or summer. I’m going for a spring feel here with a parsley and rocket pesto, adding a fresh herby flavour to the risotto. The rocket and lemon give a subtle peppery sharp edge that is balanced with the toasted pine nuts and sweet creamy rice. Tempted? Give it a try!

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 1 sweet potato, peeled 2cm cubes

• 1 vegetable stock cube (Kallo low salt)

• 1 small onion, finely chopped

• 2 leeks, halved and sliced thinly

• 1 garlic clove, grated

• 300g risotto

• 100ml sherry or 150ml white wine

• 15g finely grated parmesan

• Juice of ½ lemon

• 1 - 1 ½ tsp salt

• 20g pine nuts, toasted

• A handful of rocket leaves, optional

Pesto

• 15g parsley

• 15g rocket

• 10g parmesan

• 40g pinenuts

• Juice of ¼ lemon

• 4 tbsp olive oil

• 1/8 tsp sea salt

method

• Preheat oven to 200ºc, put the sweet potato on a large baking tray, drizzle with ½ tbsp olive oil, mix well and spread out. Sprinkle with sea salt. Roast for 15 minutes and then turn and put back in for a further 10-15 minutes until browned on at least two sides.

• Mash half the sweet potato on the tray while warm and set aside.

• Make the pesto while the sweet potato is roasting: put all the ingredients in a food processor and blitz to combine into a rough texture, don’t purée!

• Warm the stock, or dissolve 1 stock cube in 1.2 litres of boiling water (see note about stock below).

• Melt a large knob of butter and a drizzle of olive oil in a large pan. Add the onion and leeks, frying on a gentle heat for 10-12 minutes.

• Next add the garlic and stir well, allowing it to cook for a minute.

• Then tip in the rice and stir well to coat all the grains, after about a minute it should look slightly translucent at the edges.

• Turn up the heat and pour in the wine or Sherry. Allow the harsh alcohol taste to bubble off, once the rice has absorbed the rest of the wine (about 2 minutes) start adding the warm stock. I usually pour in a ladle full, or about 100ml at a time.

• Next add the mashed sweet potato and keep adding the stock slowly, each time it is absorbed, pour in another ladle, stirring regularly.

• After 10-12 minutes add the sweet potato chunks and continue pouring in the stock for another 8-10 minutes.

• Check the rice is cooked (it should still have a little bite to it) and then stir in the grated parmesan, lemon juice, a knob of butter and the salt.

• Serve with a spoon of pesto, a few pine nuts and a sprinkle of rocket.

Tip

• A note about stock: if I’m using a cube then I double the amount of water recommended on the pack, as I find it dominates the flavour otherwise.

• 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.

• To make the risotto vegan, you could use non-dairy butter and add a tablespoon of nutritional yeast to replace the parmesan in both the risotto and pesto.

• I use a Microplane or fine grater for the cheese and garlic.

pea & Kale risotto

Reasons to be cheerful: spring is in the air, I’m wearing my green hoodie, the kids have gone back to school after the longest Christmas holiday in history and it’s International Women’s Day! Sending love and a fresh green risotto recipe to all the amazing women in my life!

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 250g Frozen peas

• 1 vegetable stock cube

• 100g cavolo nero, stalked removed, leaves chopped roughly

• 1 medium onion, finely chopped

• 1 celery stick, finely chopped

• 1 clove garlic, grated

• 150ml white wine or 100ml sherry / vermouth

• 320g risotto rice

• 50g parmesan, finely grated

• 3/4 tsp sea salt

• Juice of ¼ lemon

Method

• Melt the stock cube in 1L boiling water (I always dilute stock cubes way more than the packet instructions as I find their flavour is too strong otherwise)

• Put 150g peas in a small saucepan, pour over 100ml stock and bring to the boil. Turn off and leave to cool.

• Steam the kale for 4-5 minutes and then blitz in a food processor with a knob of butter.

• Once the peas have cooled, then add to the kale and blitz until smooth.

• Heat 20g of butter and a drizzle of olive oil in a large shallow pan and fry the onions and celery on low for 10-12 minutes.

• Add the garlic to the onion and cook for 1 minute.

• Warm the stock in a pan on the hob or microwave.

• Next stir the rice into the onions, after about a minute it should look slightly translucent at the edges.

• Then turn up the heat and pour in the wine or Sherry. Allow the harsh alcohol taste to bubble off and once the rice has absorbed the rest of the wine start adding the warm stock. I usually pour in about a ladle or 100ml at a time.

• After 10 minutes add the pea and kale purée and continue pouring in the stock for another 5 minutes and then add the rest of the peas. Cook for a further 3-5 minutes.

• Check the rice is cooked (it should still have a little bite to it), add a little more water if needed (a risotto shouldn’t stand up in your bowl, it should melt to the sides) and then stir in 10g of butter, 30g parmesan, salt and a squeeze of lemon.

• Serve with the rest of the parmesan, warm ciabatta and a green salad.

Tip

• The way I got my fussy meat-eating son to eat a very green risotto was to: not tell him about the kale, only the peas, fry some crispy bacon bits and put them on top and serve with warm ciabatta bread. He will eat a significant amount more things if there is white bread or a wrap on the side!

• I used cavolo nero or black kale, but you could switch to curly if that’s what you’ve got in. Just make sure you take the tough stalks out and only use the leaves.

• 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.

• To make the risotto vegan, you could use non-dairy ‘butter’ and add a tablespoon of nutritional yeast and or a little oat cream instead of cheese. Top with pine nuts or pumpkin seeds.

• I use a Microplane or fine grater for the cheese and garlic.

Butternut squash & spinach risotto with crispy sage

Risotto is the perfect comfort food and it’s so versatile in terms of flavours you can never get bored of it. I love the combination of squash, sage and feta here, it’s creamy, sweet and salty, which works so well. Although my kids aren’t massive squash fans they really like this risotto, ok so they pick out the pieces of squash, but as I’ve mashed some in they can’t avoid eating it altogether! I topped my son’s with crispy bacon to keep him happy and if you serve with garlic ciabatta as well I don’t think you’re going to get too many complaints!

Ingredients

Serves 4

• ½ large butternut squash (approx 800g unpeeled)

• 10-12 sage leaves

• 30g unsalted butter

• 1 onion, finely chopped

• 1 stick celery, finely chopped

• 1 clove garlic, grated

• 150ml white wine or 100ml sherry or vermouth

• 350g risotto rice

• 1-1.2L vegetable stock

• 30g parmesan, finely grated

• 1 tsp sea salt

• 3 handfuls spinach leaves

• Approx 100g feta, crumbled

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180ºc. Chop the squash into 2cm chunks and put on a large baking tray, drizzle with ½ tbsp olive oil, mix well and spread out. Sprinkle with sea salt. Roast for 20 minutes and then turn and put back in for a further 20 until browned on at least two sides.

• Leave the squash on the oven tray, mash half with a fork.

• Heat ½ tbsp olive oil in a small frying pan, next add the sage leaves and cook for about a minute on each side. They should turn a little darker, but not brown. Place on a piece of kitchen roll to absorb the oil. They’ll crisp up as they cool.

• Warm the stock on the hob or microwave.

• Heat 20g of butter and ½ tbsp olive oil in a wide low-sided pan, add the onions and celery, cooking gently for 15 minutes until soft, but not browned.

• Next add the rice, stirring well, after about a minute it should look slightly translucent at the edges.

• Then turn up the heat and pour in the wine or Sherry. Allow the harsh alcohol taste to bubble off and once the rice has absorbed the rest of the wine (about 2 minutes) start adding the warm stock. I usually pour in a ladle or about 100ml at a time.

• Next add the mashed squash and keep adding the stock slowly, each time it is absorbed, pour in another ladle, stirring regularly.

• After 10-12 minutes add the squash chunks and continue pouring in the stock for another 8 minutes.

• Check the rice is cooked (it should still have a little bite to it) and then stir in the spinach, 10g of butter, 30g parmesan and the salt. Mix well and allow the spinach to wilt for a minute.

• Crumble a sage leaf and feta or grated parmesan on top.

• Serve with another couple of whole sage leaves, garlic ciabatta and a green salad.

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.

• To make the risotto vegan, you could use non-dairy butter and add a tablespoon of nutritional yeast and or a little oat cream instead of cheese. Top with toasted pine nuts or pumpkin seeds.

• I use a Microplane or fine grater for the cheese and garlic.

• Cook the squash the day before to get ahead.

Mushroom risotto

Apologies to the person who asked for non-mushroom recipes recently, I promise there will be more fungi-less dishes coming up over the next few days! I wanted to share this as I love mushroom risotto and it’s a pretty straightforward recipe that you can knock together on any day of the week.

Also it’s surprisingly a dish that I can get my kids to eat without too much complaint. Admittedly they carefully pick out every mushroom, but even if they don’t eat them they’re used to the look and taste which I think is still quite important. They haven’t got used to the texture yet, but hopefully that will come.

I added some carrots and broccoli to their plates so at least they ate some veggies and we had a green salad. A good tip for getting your kids to eat things they don’t like much is to serve with (garlic or buttered fresh) bread. I find that mine will then revoltingly pile the thing they don’t love onto the bread and eat it that way!

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 300g chestnut mushrooms, sliced roughly

• Approx 1-2 tbsp olive oil

• 10g porcini mushrooms

• 40g unsalted butter

• 1 onion, chopped finely

• 1 stick celery, chopped finely

• 1 clove garlic, grated

• 150ml white wine or 100ml sherry or vermouth

• 300g risotto rice

• 700ml vegetable stock

• 50g parmesan, finely grated

• 3/4 tsp sea salt

• Squeeze of 1/4 lemon

• Handful of chopped parsley, optional

Method

• Warm ½ tbsp olive oil in a frying pan and cook the mushrooms on a medium heat in batches. Set aside each batch in a bowl once browned.

• While the mushrooms are cooking, boil a cup of water in the kettle, pour 50ml on to the porcini in a small bowl leaving them to soak while you get the risotto started.

• Warm the stock on the hob or microwave.

• Heat 30g of butter and a decent glug of olive oil in a wide low-sided pan, add the onions and celery, cooking gently for 15 minutes until soft, but not browned.

• Next add the rice, stirring well, after about a minute it should look slightly translucent at the edges.

• Then turn up the heat and pour in the wine or Sherry. Allow the harsh alcohol taste to bubble off and once the rice has absorbed the rest of the wine start adding the warm stock. I usually pour in about a ladle or 100ml at a time.

• After the first ladle, roughly chop the porcini mushrooms with a pair of scissors in the bowl and pour into the rice.

• Deglaze the mushroom frying pan with a little stock and add it to the rice, so you don’t waste that extra flavour. Then keep adding the stock slowly, each time it absorbed pour another ladle into the pan, stirring regularly.

• After 10 minutes add the cooked mushrooms and continue pouring in the stock for another 8 minutes.

• Check the rice is cooked (it should still have a little bite to it) and then stir in 10g of butter, 30g parmesan, salt, a squeeze of lemon and parsley if you’re using it.

• Serve with the rest of the parmesan, warm ciabatta and a green salad.

  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.

• To make the risotto vegan, you could use non-dairy ‘butter’ and add a tablespoon of nutritional yeast and or a little oat cream instead of cheese. Top with pine nuts or pumpkin seeds.

• I use a Microplane or fine grater for the cheese and garlic.

Roast tomato & red pepper risotto with garlic ciabatta

Ingredients

Serves 4-6

• 300g cherry tomatoes

• 1 red pepper

• 1 onion, chopped finely

• 1 stick celery, chopped finely

• 1 clove garlic, grated

• 15g fresh basil, stalks finely chopped / leaves torn

• 1 glass of white wine

• 350g risotto rice

• 900ml vegetable stock

• 40g parmesan, finely grated

• 1 tbsp unsalted butter

• ¾ tsp sea salt

  Garlic ciabatta

• ½ ciabatta loaf, cut into about 6 slices slices

• 20g unsalted butter, room temperature

• 1 small clove garlic, grated

• pinch sea salt

• chopped chives, optional

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180°C

• Chop the cherry tomatoes in half and spread out on a baking tray, drizzle with olive or rapeseed oil. Bake for 20 minutes until starting to brown on the tray. After you take them out make sure you scrape the tray to loosen all the brown caramelisation to use later.

• Put the whole red pepper on some tin foil and place under a hot grill and blacken on all sides - this should take about 12-15 minutes, turning every 2-3. Wrap in the foil once cooked and leave to cool for 5 minutes, then peel, deseed and chop or tear into ½ cm wide strips.

• While the tomatoes and pepper are cooking, chop the onion, celery and basil stalks then add a glug of olive oil to a wide low sided pan and cook gently for around 10 minutes or until soft, but not browned.

• Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.

• Warm the stock on the hob or microwave.

• Next add the risotto rice to the onion mix and stir well to coat, turn the heat up a little and pour in the wine. Let the rice sizzle until the alcohol has burnt off - about 2/3 minutes.

• Now turn the heat down and start to add the stock one ladle at a time, stirring well to combine. The rice will need to cook for 20 minutes, but after 12 minutes add the roasted tomatoes (don’t forget the tasty tray scrapings!) and red pepper strips.

• Get the garlic bread prepped while the risotto is cooking. Mix the garlic into the butter with a fork and spread on once side of each slice. Place on a baking tray and put in a 180°C oven for 6-8 minutes, or place under a hot grill (non buttered side first) for a couple of minutes a side.

• Keep adding the rest of the stock and then finish by stirring in the butter, basil leaves and 2/3 of the parmesan, reserving the last bit to sprinkle on top to serve. You could artfully place a few pretty basil leaves on top too if you’re feeling flash :-)

• Serve with a green salad, garlic bread and a glass of chilled Albariño.

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.

• To make the risotto vegan, you could use non-dairy butter and add a tablespoon of nutritional yeast and or a little oat cream instead of cheese. Top with toasted pine nuts or pumpkin seeds.

• I use a Microplane or fine grater for the cheese and garlic.