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.