Roasted Vegetable Risotto (Healthy Recipes)

Member Name: foxylou1980

Product:	Healthy Recipes
Date:	28/02/09 (159 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Tasty, cheap, full of veggie goodness!

Disadvantages: Not to good for the hardened carnivores!

I did a family cookery course a few years back at my local Children's Centre and this is one of the recipes we cooked. I have made this many times at home for my family and it always goes down very well with my husband and son, although my daughter is a confirmed vegetable-hater so she tends to pull a disgusted face when she finds this on the table!

Ingredients:
1 onion, sliced
100g button mushrooms
100g Chestnut mushrooms
1 pepper, sliced lengthways
1 courgette, sliced lengthways
1 carrot, sliced lengthways
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
250g risotto rice
1 1/2 pint hot vegetable stock
Pinch dried mixed herbs
Salt and pepper

Method:
1) Heat the oil in a large frying pan and fry the onion, mushrooms, pepper and garlic for about 3 minutes.
2) Add the courgette and carrot and cook for a further 2 minutes.
3) Add the rice and stir to coat in the oil.
4) Add a quarter of the stock to the pan, and bring to a simmer stirring frequently.
5) Continue to simmer, stirring almost continuously. As the rice absorbs the stock add more stock and continue until the rice is cooked.
6) Add herbs and cook for a further minute (add cream and parmesan at this point if you're feeling naughty!)
7) Season with salt and pepper and serve.

I have to say that to me risotto just isn't risotto without some cream added to it (and if I'm feeling particularly naughty some parmesan cheese as well!) Not quite so healthy but much tastier in my opinion! I would say that the quantities I've used here would be enough for 4 people if used as an accompaniment to some chicken or quorn and a crisp green salad. Tesco Value dried herbs are cheap and taste as good as the more expensive varieties I think. If you want to make this recipe even more budget-friendly you could just use regular mushrooms instead of the more expensive varieties I've used in this recipe.

Summary: A lovely inexpensive healthy meal which can be easily adapted