Delicious Vegetation Risotto Recipe

Watching the Great British Bake Off, always makes me feel really hungry, especially for things I cannot eat due to the low fat diet I am on, so to combat this graving, I thought we would have a lovely Risotto, with freshly baked bread. The ingredients for the Risotto were largely inspired by what needed to be eaten in the fridge. (Any suitable vegetables will really do. ). Anyway this is what I used to make a meal for two.

Ingredients

• 1 medium onion finely chopped
• 1 clove of Garlic finely chopped
• 1 red pepper coarsely chopped
• A handful of stick beans chopped to 1 cm lengths
• A stick of celery finely chopped
• 2 large courgettes coarsely grated
• 175gms Risotto rice
• 1 litre of vegetable stock (or Chicken stock)
• 1 tbsp of Olive oil (a couple of glugs)
• Half a glass full of white wine
• Herbs – Chives, Tarragon, Basil, Parsley, Mint
• Salt and freshly ground back pepper

Method

• In a large pan lightly fry the onion and garlic in the olive oil until the onion goes translucent
• Add the chopped pepper, chopped stick beans, and chopped celery and fry for a further minute
• Turn the heat up and add the Risotto rice making sure it is all thoroughly coated with hot oil. The rice will become translucent
• Add the wine stirring round and let it simmer. This removes any alcohol it has but keeps the taste and flavour
• Add half the grated courgettes
• Stir in the chopped herbs, and season with salt and pepper
• Start adding the stock. 1 spoonful at a time and stirring the pan regularly. The heat will probably be needed to be turned down but need to make sure simmering
• Each time the stock becomes absorbed add the next spoonful. This whole process will take around 20 minutes. After 10 minutes of stirring and adding stock
• The mixture will become creamy in texture as the rice cooks. Just before serving add a little more mint just to add that fresh taste.
• Grated Parmesan cheese can be added if required.

Serve with warm crusty bread. (and the rest of the bottle of wine if allowed to drink it)