Roasted Beetroot Baked Risotto
african vanielje on Sep 03 2007 at 10:53 pm | Filed under: risotto, vegetarian, vkcb
Yep, that’s right, this is a baked risotto. That just means I started it off like an ordinary risotto, and finished it off in the oven. It doesn’t mean that it has to be done that way. You can just stick to the basic risotto formula of stand and stir. No problem.
But first, the beetroot.
- Trim the ends of the stalks of the beetroot about 2 cm from the root.
- Wash thoroughly, but gently as any cuts or tears in the beetroot skin will allow all the colour and nutrients to leech out.
- Bring to the boil in a pot of water and simmer for ten minutes. This will soften the beetroots just enough to be able to slice them into segments for roasting
- Halve the beetroots and top and tail them.
- Cut each half into four or five wedges.
- Place in an oven proof roasting dish sprinkled with a good olive oil, some fresh ground black pepper, some maldon salt and some fresh herbs - thyme, oregano, rosemary (you choose)
- Place in the oven at 180-200*C to roast , taking them out after 15 minutes to toss about and ensure they are well covered in oil
- Meanwhile, heat some chicken stock (or veg stock) and season to taste
- Finely chop some red onion and soften in a little butter.
- When nearly done, add some finely chopped garlic
- Fry for a few minutes before adding your arborio or carnaroli rice
- Fry until the edges of the rice are just opaque then toss in a good slug of red wine.
- Once that has burnt off, add a cup of hot stock and stir.
- Do this 2 more times, stirring in between and waiting for the stock to be absorbed before adding more
- Pour the rice and onion mix into a shallow oven proof dish
- Stir in the soft and caramelized roasted beetroot
- Top up with extra stock (reserving 1/4 cup) and put back in the oven.
- Bake for about 15 - 20 minutes, or until all the stock has been absorbed, stirring the rice around once or twice during the baking time
- When most of the stock has been absorbed, take the dish out, stir in some grated Parmesan and 1/4 cup of stock, top with some more Parmesan and return to the oven
- After a few minutes the last of the stick will be absorbed and the Parmesan crunchy.
- Serve immediately, sprinkled with fresh chives
