Spring vegetable risotto

SERVES: 2

Ingredients:

1 leek
1 courgette
1 carrot
100g/4oz frozen peas
100g/4oz risotto rice
300ml/ 10fl oz hot stock (veggie, or chicken)
Small glass of white wine (optional, can be replaced by same amount of stock)
2 handfuls rocket, spinach or other peppery green vegetable
1 tablespoon olive oil
Parmesan or ricotta to serve (optional)

Recipe Summary

Risotto traditionally involves standing over the hob stirring the rice until cooked to ensure a rich, starchy texture. However, you can still get a great dish by oven baking the rice instead and it means you are free to go off and do other things whilst it cooks.

This recipe includes lots of different vegetables to help you meet your daily 5-A-Day target – it contains 3 portions of vegetables per serving. You can eat this as a main course on its own or alongside the roast chicken recipe for an easy, healthy Sunday lunch.

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C/375F.

Finely slice the leek and carrot, and then grate the courgette (you can use a mandolin or food processor for this if it helps). Put to one side.

Gently heat the oil in a medium sized casserole dish, add the leek and cook until just softened. Add the rice to the pan along with the stock, wine, carrot and courgette.
Stir and bring the dish to a low simmer. Cover and bake for 30 minutes, stirring half way through.

Remove from the oven, uncover and add in the frozen peas. Stir, cover and leave to stand for 5-10 minutes (the heat from the dish will cook the peas).

Add the handful of fresh spinach or rocket, stir again and serve with a little parmesan cheese or fresh ricotta.

Variation:
For a no-chop version, try using any combination you like of green or broad beans, baby carrots (or tinned sliced carrots), peas, mange tout, whole leaf spinach, baby tomatoes or button mushrooms.