Today I’m bringing you a healthy spring vegetable risotto.
Risotto can be very heavy as its often made with butter, cheese and wine, but I’ve been cooking a healthier version of risotto for years. In fact, the first meal I ever cooked for my now husband was a shrimp risotto with tomato and basil (I’m going to refrain from a cheesy “love at first bite” joke…).
I love cooking risotto because it is an elegant dish that gives the impression you slaved over the stove for hours. In reality, once you get the rice cooking, only takes about 20 minutes.
The creaminess of the dish comes from the stirring of the grain to break down the starch – in my opinion, no butter or cheese is needed! You do have to stir the dish but you can walk away for a minute and do something else and come back to it.
A few notes:
- It is VERY important you also use arborio short grain rice – don’t try to make this dish with brown rice or regular white rice – it will NOT have the same consistency.
- I used lots of aromatics (shallots, garlic), replaced the wine with lemon, and added in-season spring vegetables for a light and healthy dish that you can serve as a side dish or as a main.
Buon appetito!
PrintSpring Vegetable Risotto
Ingredients
- 1 quart reduced sodium vegetable stock
- 1 cup arborio rice
- 1 lemon
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 3–4 shallots, chopped (about 3/4 cup)
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 leek (light and white parts only)
- 1 cup of chopped asparagus
- 1 cup of peas
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
Instructions
- Heat the vegetable stock in a small pot and keep on low heat.
- Zest the lemon and set aside.
- Cut the lemon, juice it, and set the juice aside (about 1/3 c of lemon juice).
- Heat 1/2 teaspoon of the oil and cook the chopped asparagus for about 5 minutes (until the asparagus just becomes tender; should still be bright green). Remove from pan and set asparagus aside.
- Heat remaining oil on medium heat. Add shallots and the leek and cook until the vegetables begin to soften – about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, a pinch of salt and cook for 2 more minutes. Add lemon juice and rice to pan and coat the rice.
- Cook until the lemon juice has evaporated and add about 1/2 cup of the stock. Stir until the stock has been absorbed, and then add another 1/2 cup of stock. Continue adding the stock, 1/2 cup at a time once the stock as evaporated, and stirring very frequently, until the rice is cooked and you have used most all of your stock (about 20 minutes). The rice should look very creamy.
- Add back in the asparagus, peas and lemon zest. Top with basil and serve.