Saturday 23 February 2013

Plenty: Lemon and aubergine risotto


A few Christmases ago I was bought a fantastic vegetarian cookbook called 'Plenty' by Yotam Ottolenghi. Unfortunately the recipes in it can be a little bit expensive and there aren't many 'meals' in it. However, last night I had a scramble through it and decided to make one of the risottos. The results were beautiful so I thought I'd share the recipe. If a meal without meat is satisfying to Ben, I know it's good.
We also had most of these things in already - bonus!

Serves 4 (I halved the recipe!) 
2 medium aubergines
130ml olive oil
1 medium onion (I used 1 onion), finely chopped
2 garlic cloves crushed
200g good-quality risotto rice (I used 150g of normal rice! - it took longer to cook and more stock!)
120ml white wine (use substitutes!)
750ml hot vegetable stock
grated zest of 1 lemon
2tbsp of lemon juice
20g butter
50g parmesan grated
10g basil leaves (I didn't use fresh basil)
salt
black pepper


  1. Prepare the aubergines. The recipe says to burn one aubergine over a hot flame and scoop out the soft flesh which you then chop and set aside. I didn't do this (we don't have a flame); I just did the part it says to do with the second aubergine, which was: wash aubergine and cut into 1.5cm dice. Heat 80ml of olive oil in a pan and fry the aubergine in the pan until golden and crisp. Transfer to a colander and sprinkle with salt. 
  2. Make the risotto: 40ml of olive oil and the onion in (the same) pan. Fry slowly until soft and translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 3 minutes. Increase heat and add the rice, coating it in oil. Add the white wine and cook until nearly evaporated. 
  3. Add the hot stock, a bit at a time (ladle), waiting for the rice to absorb it every time. Stir all the time! When all stock is absorbed and rice is cooked (you may need more stock!) remove from heat. 
  4. Add:
    • half the lemon zest
    • all the lemon juice
    • grilled aubergine flesh (if you did this: I just added the diced aubergine here)
    • butter
    • most of the parmesan
    • 3/4 tsp salt
  5. Stir it all together and leave for 5 minutes
  6. Distribute into bowls and add parmesan, salt, black pepper, basil and remaining lemon zest; to taste. 
Enjoy! 

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