What a
lovely surprise we’ve had today. I
thoroughly enjoyed seeing the sun and felt alive again running under a smiling yellow
ball of fire. It feels a little bit nippy
now and to continue our Mediterranean theme this week, I thought a vegetarian
Italian risotto would do us a world of good.
This
recipe is also gluten and wheat free.
Check your ingredients carefully to ensure that the recipe ingredients are also soy
free. As the recipe contains crème fraiche
and parmesan cheese it is not milk free.
However, you could trial substituting these ingredients with soy yoghurt
if you needed to exclude milk, but allowed soy in your diet.
I like
zero waste, thus I have incorporated both tips and stems of the asparagus. If you prefer, you can choose to use tips
only.
Ingredients
200g
sundried tomatoes in olive oil
3
shallots, chopped finely
4 garlic
cloves, sliced
8 – 10 asparagus,
both tips and stems, cut into 1 inch pieces
500ml
stock
550g Arborio
rice
500ml white
wine
10 – 12 mushroom
buttons
100g baby spinach
3
tablespoons reduced fat natural yoghurt or crème fraiche
75g parmesan
cheese, grated
Methods
1. Drain
the sundried tomatoes and reserve the oil.
Slice the sundried tomatoes into small pieces. Set aside.
2. Add ½ the
olive oil to a large saucepan and cook the shallots, garlic and asparagus for a
few minutes.
3. Whilst
this is cooking, prepare your stock.
4. Stir in
the rice and continue cooking until the rice turns opaque.
5. Pour in
the wine and stir constantly until all the liquid has been absorbed. I usually cook over a low to medium heat.
6. Then add
stock in 3 parts and only when most of the liquid has disappeared.
7. Add the
mushrooms and mix well.
8. In a
blender blitz the spinach, yoghurt or crème fraiche and the grated parmesan.
8. Once
the rice is nearly done, mix in the sun dried tomatoes and the pureed spinach.
10. Serve
hot and season well with pepper.
