Prep Time 15 minutes - Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes - Serves 2
Have you ever had carrot risotto?
No, well you need to give this recipe a go.
The brilliant thing about risotto is that it’s a dish for all seasons and especially its ability to take on so many different flavours such as carrots.
Although a risotto is amazing on its own it also works amazingly as side to go along with nice piece of steak or chicken.
Ingredients
150 g risotto rice such as Arborio.
1 small onion, finely diced.
1 garlic cloves, chopped.
2 large carrots, cut in fours lengthways.
1 large carrot, grated.
1 tbsp of honey.
A handful of fresh Thyme leaves stripped, reserve some for garnishing.
1 litre of chicken or veg stock.
150 ml of water.
4 knobs of butter.
1 glass of white wine.
25 g of Parmesan, grated.
Method
Place the 2 large halved carrots into a roasting tray season, drizzle with a little olive oil and sprinkle with a few of the thyme leaves. Roast in a preheated oven set at 200° till tender, will take around 40 minutes depending on the thickness of the carrots. Once done pop the carrots into a food blender with the honey, 1 knob of butter, season and the water. You may need a little more or less water so add it a bit at a time and whizz till you get a nice purée. Once done place to one side.
Put the stock into a saucepan and place over a medium heat. Then in a separate pan add a drizzle of olive oil and 1 knob of butter. Add the onions, garlic, the reaming thyme leaves, grated carrots and season. Slowly fry the veg for 15 minutes.
Turn up the heat to high and add the rice. Make sure you keep stirring and after a minute or so the rice will start to go a little translucent. At that point, it’s time to add the wine. Keep stirring until the wine has almost gone.
Reduce the heat down to low, add the carrot purée and cookout for a minute then add your first ladle of stock. Only add one ladle at a time and continue stirring allowing the rice to absorb the stock before adding the next one. This will take around 20 minutes to cook, you want the rice to have a very slight bite to it, or of course if you prefer the rice more well done just keep cooking and adding the stock. You may need a little more or little less stock so just keep checking the rice; if you run out of stock and need more just add boiling water.
To finish the risotto take the pan off the heat, add the remaining butter, parmesan mix well and allow to just sit there for a minute. Check for seasoning and adjust accordingly. I like to top it off with a few extra baby roasted carrots and some more Parmesan.
Remember good risotto should oozy like lava on the plate so if it’s a bit stodgy add a little stock or water to the pan to loosen it up.