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(serves 2)
I have been suffering from a serious food fatigue lately, mainly because it turns out you can actually have too many roast dinners/pies/sausage&mash/other foodstuff used mainly as a gravy sponge. So in the spirit of being a tiny bit healthier I decided to make a veggie risotto. You could make this vegan by substituting vegetable stock for chicken and leaving out the butter but that is taking it a bit far where I am concerned. The end result should be a lovely creamy risotto with a bit of tanginess courtesy of the lemon and courgette. This is a pretty good basic risotto and you can have it with all sorts of tasty things on top. I think some grilled fish would be a great addition if you are that way inclined. Overall a pretty good dish for making you feel better about some of those Christmas indulgences but without actually resorting to eating rabbit food.
Risotto:
750ml chicken stock
1 chopped onion
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup risotto rice
½-1 cup grated parmesan
2 tsp chopped parsley
2 tsp lemon juice
2 tbsp lemon zest
Courgettes:
1 tsp olive oil
2 courgettes
Salt and pepper to taste
1. Add all the olive oil and one tablespoon of butter to a large pan and fry the onions on a medium heat until soft and translucent. Stir often to make sure the onions don’t start to brown, remember you want this risotto to be a lovely creamy white colour.
2. Add the rice and make sure it’s mixed in thoroughly.
3. Turn the heat down and add a large ladle full of stock. Stir thoroughly and simmer until most of it has been absorbed. Keep adding a ladle full of stock every time the rice is just about to start sticking to the pan until you only have a ladle full of stock left. It should take about 30 mins altogether.
4. While the rice is cooking slice your courgette lengthwise into thin slices. When the rice is nearly done add some olive oil to hot pan. I used a griddle pan but a normal one will do. Fry the courgette slices for a couple of minutes on each side until they are cooked through and start to brown. Season generously with salt and pepper.
5. Add parmesan, parsley, lemon juice, zest, parsley and the last bit of the stock to the risotto. Stir until well combined. Make sure to taste the finished risotto, stock tends to be quite salty so it probably won’t need any extra but you might want to add some (white) pepper if you prefer something with a bit of heat.
6. Top the finished risotto with the courgette slices, for a finishing touch scatter some leftover parsley and/or lemon zest over each portion.
