Posted by kathryn in Vegetables, Recipes, Grains, Dinners and Spring

As I’ve said before I love a one-pot meal. To be able to make a healthy, quick meal and only dirty one saucepan, is a good thing. Which makes risotto a good option – everything goes in together, to make a beautiful rich and creamy textured meal.

However, for me, most risotto recipes just don’t include enough vegies. One way round this is to serve it with a salad, but sometimes I just want one bowl of steaming risotto goodness. In the evening I’m generally aiming to get at least three, if not four serves of vegies, so I’ve started putting together risottos which buck the normal trend and include lots and lots of vegetables.

This is a great dish for kids (and adults), that “don’t like vegies”. When I made this, I cut the broccoli up fairly small, so it would cook easily, but you could make it even smaller again. Then the zucchini and broccoli would just appear as little green flecks, in amongst the rice, barely detectable as vegetable. It’s a good strategy for getting the green stuff into your kids.

NB: As Richard is still away, I was cooking for one.

Brocolli & leek risotto

Serves 1

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 small leek, wash well and cut into 1cm slices
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 cup (about 70g) brocolli, cut into small florets
• 1/2 zucchini, finely grated
• 1/3 cup (100g) arborio rice
• 3 sprigs thyme
• 1/3 punnet (about 70g) cherry tomatoes, cut in half
• 1 tablespoon (10g) parmesan

Heat the oil in a pan on a medium-high heat and add the leek. Saute for 2 mins, then add the garlic and brocolli. Continue cooking for another 2 – 3 mins. Add the zucchini and cook for another 1 minute, stirring continuously to prevent it sticking.

While doing this, put the kettle on to boil.

Add the rice and thyme and stir to coat with the oil and vegies, for about 1 minute.

Turn up the heat and start adding the water 1/3 of a cup at a time. Gently stir the rice until the water is absorbed. Then add another 1/3 cupful and continue doing this, stirring frequently, until the rice is cooked through. I find the amount of water needed varies, but it will be about 2 cupfuls in total.

Once cooked, add the tomatoes and parmesan, stir through and serve immediately.

Nutritional information per serving:

• Total kilojoules: 1,987kJ
• Protein: 16.5g
• Fat: 13g
• Saturated fat: 2.7g
• Carbohydrate: 86g
• Fibre: 8.5g
• Sodium: 183mg
• Number of daily vegetable serves: 4
• Other nutrients: potassium, carotenes, iron, niacin, vitamin C, lutein, lycopene and other antioxidants

29 September, 2006