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An Old Family Staple

Risotto is one of those dishes which can be deployed in many different ways. You can make lots of it, very inexpensively, and freeze the left overs or eat over the next few days. With perpetually hungry teenagers in the house, it lines the stomach walls between coming in from school and the evening meal! A quick reheat in the microwave is all that is needed.

You can serve it with chicken, lamb, beef, venison, fish--lots of possibilities.

There are several tricks to a good vegetable risotto. The key is flavour, so the more intense the vegetable flavour the better. You cannot go past using vegetable stock to absorb into the rice--it helps achieve that wonderful vegetable flavour that complements so many meat dishes, and prevents the rice being bland.

Firstly, you need to get a good base of vegetables in which you will cook the risotto. Onions and garlic are always a good beginning; then add chopped celery and/or chopped capsicum. You can use other veges if you wish. These should be sweated down in olive oil in your risotto saucepan first. Meanwhile--and here is a trick--don't discard all the vegetable peelings and choppings (onion and garlic skins, celery leaves, whatever) but put them in a separate saucepan, cover with water, and bring to the boil. Salt and simmer for about ten to twenty minutes. Strain out the liquid. All the flavour of that liquid can then be used to add to the risotto rice, which will intensify the vegetable flavour.

The best rice to use is arborio rice because it cooks into a lovely waxy white creamy texture. But, if not, then basmati rice will be fine.

Ingredients

1 medium red onion, chopped finely
1 medium white onion chopped finely
4-5 cloves garlic, crushed
cup of celery, chopped
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
1 cup of white wine
vegetable stock
1 cup frozen peas
1 tablespoon butter
salt and pepper to taste

Method

Stage I: Prepare the risotto vegetable base.

-Heat risotto saucepan with a dash of olive oil. Add in chopped onions and begin to sweat down.
-Add celery and finally garlic, stirring until all the crispness of the onion and celery has completely gone and they look like they have just been on a ten k run. If they are browned, that's fine too.
-Add balsamic vinegar and stir until it has thickened down.
-Add salt and pepper to taste.


Stage II: Prepare the vegetable stock.

While you are preparing the risotto vegetable base, put the vegetable tailings into a separate saucepan, cover with water, and simmer for about ten minutes. Strain the liquid, and set aside.

Stage III: Risotto

-Put a cup of rice (or however much you wish) into the saucepan, and stir into the vegetable base. This will let the intense flavours coat the rice which will then start to toast in the hot pan. Stir frequently, mixing thoroughly.
-Add white wine and stir. From now on you will need to keep stirring the vegetables rice pretty much all the time, so this is where you could use a good kitchen assistant. (Because there's lots of simple, repeated action, it's a great dish to start training the next generation of super chefs. Or, if hubby wants to come into the kitchen to talk to you, distracting you while you are working, at least you can put him to work.)
-As the liquid is absorbed and the dish begins to dry out, add about half a cup of the vegetable water (combined with vegetable stock, if you have any.
-As the liquid is absorbed by the rice, add more liquid, stirring all the time.
-Keep this process going until the rice is soft and cooked. (If you run out of vegetable stock, just keep adding water.)
-As the rice is getting completely soft, add in a cup of frozen peas at the end, and stir for about two to three minutes. They will cook quickly in the hot rice.
-Finally, throw in a table spoon of butter and stir it into the risotto. This will cause the whole dish to glisten and complete the creamy texture.
-Salt and pepper to taste.