Beetroot Risotto

I had quite a lot of raw beets in my fridge since Tuesday, and after lots of deliberation I opted to go the risotto route.
You can use raw or cooked beets. If you are using cooked make sure you use ones that aren’t pickled or in any form of juice. If you can use raw then please do. they are so tasty and all those nutrients will get sucked up by the rice. After all isn’t the the beetroot of of these new “superfoods”

Ingredient

550g raw beetroot (once peeled about 460g)
5g butter
3 shallots (or medium onion)
2 garlic cloves
small glass white wine (optional)
1ltr Veg Stock
50g grated mozzarella
couple of handfuls of spinach
Thyme

1. Finely dice the shallots/onion and garlic.

2. Now dice the beetroot into small cubes. If you are using raw beetroot, you will need to peel them first. Some might wear gloves to do this as they don’t want stained fingers. However, if you are like me and you are never that organised to have gloves in the kitchen to use for this sort of thing you need to be a bit more careful. SO, if you hold the beetroot by the root you can peel them quiet easily with a peeler and get very little juice on your fingers. Then still holding the root you can slice the beetroot into rings and then slice into small cubes.

3. Heat a large non stick frying pan and add the butter, onions and garlic. Cook until the onions start to go clear.

4. Add the rice and stir in to the onions, after a few minutes it too will start to go a little opaque. add the white wine if you are using it, if not add a ladle of the stock. Cook for a couple of minutes.
5. Add the beetroot. You will see that straight away the beetroot juice will bleed into the rice as you stir it in. Also add the thyme leaves. 6. Pour in a some of the stock, just enough to cover the rice. Stir and let it simmer until the stock is absorbed into the rice, then gradually add more stock.
Keep doing this until the rice is cooked. As it cooks you will see the rice take on a deeper red colour. It is so pretty, pity it hasn’t come out very well on my phone camera, so you will have to cook it yourself to experience the lovely colour for yourself. Don’t let it dry out, it is meant to be a little “sloppy”, but be careful you don’t give it too much stock and it becomes a soup!

You want the rice to retain its shape and texture, not to just be sloppy and over cooked so make sure you keep an eye on it. Depending on how small you have diced the beetroot it will either be soft or still have a little bit of crunch. Either way it is lush!

7. This time I have used some cheese. Mozzarella has about 100cals less than Parmesan per 100g. Adding 50g to the risotto adds about 31 calories per person. I will go all stringy as you stir it in but will soon melt into the risotto. Add the spinach stir in and let the heat wilt it.

So, there you have it, a lovely ruby red, tasty filling risotto. Serving it up to 4 people gives you 346 calories per portion. It is less than 5% fat.

Enjoy and let me know what you think.

Pumpkin, Spinach and Chestnut Risotto

Soooo not done a recipe in ages. This is one of my favourite meals. It is dead easy to make but tastes delicious! You can use any kind of pumpkin/squash. I would normally use butternut squash but I had a small pumpkin sitting in my fridge needing to be used so that was used this time.
As you will see from the pics this isn’t a nice delicate risotto that you get in a resturant, its one full of flavour and lots of veg! You could use more rice and make it stretch further if you like.

There is loads of goodness in this, lots of vitamins in the squash, lots of iron in the spinach and those chestnuts (the lowest calorie nut) are a good source of fibre.

Ingredients:
500g squash/pumpkin
1 medium onion
140g arborio rice
2 handfuls fresh spinach
5g butter
1l Vegetable Stock (you might not need it all)
200g whole cooked peeled chestnuts (I use the Merchant Gourmet Whole Chestnuts in the packet)
Some chopped parsley
100g Pancetta cubes (optional) (the ones you buy in a double packet in Sainburys or Tescos or all supermarkets!)

1. Finely dice the onion. Peel, de-seed and cut the pumpkin into small chunks (1cm or less.. don’t forget it needs to cook in the time it takes to cook the rice). Roughly chop up the chestnuts into large chunks.

2. Quickly fry off the pancetta until crispy and a lot of the fat has cooked out of it. . Remove from the pan and drain on kitchen towel to get rid of as much fat as possible. Put in a bowl and leave to one side.

3. In a clean non-stick pan melt the butter and lightly cook off the onion until it goes clear. Use butter, a little tiny amount like this is not going to be a major thing and it tastes so much better than that horrible processed chemical rubbish that is margarine or low fat spread.

4. Add the rice and stir in to the onions, after a few minutes it too will start to go a little opaque. Add the cubbed pumpkin, stir in and let it cook for a couple of minutes.

5. Now comes the boring part. Pour in a some of the stock.. just enough to cover the rice. Stir and let it simmer until the stock is absorbed into the rice, then gradually add more stock. Keep doing this until the rice is cooked. It won’t be dry, it is meant to be a little “sloppy”, but be careful you don’t give it too much stock and it becomes a soup! You want the rice to retain its shape and texture, not to just be sloppy and over cooked.

6. Before you add the last bit of stock, throw in the chestnuts and the chopped parsley (I use the frozen stuff. Its already chopped and is a bit fresher and nicer flavour than the dried stuff). Stir, when you are happy the rice and pumpkin is cooked remove from the heat.

7. Add the spinach stir in and let the heat wilt it.

8. Dish up, scatter the crunchy pancetta over the top and serve.
If you have cooked or eaten risotto before you will have realised I have missed the cheese, Italian or other. This was intentional. The main reason being I am on a diet. Parmesan cheese and other hard cheeses are rather high in fat content. I guess If you really felt the need for it you could grate in some low fat cheese, if you are watching your weight, or some lovely full fat Parmigiano Reggiano if you’re not!

By scattering the pancetta over the top you get that little salty taste that you would have got from the cheese. To be honest it is not imperative that you have it but, the pancetta just adds a little crunchy texture to the softness of the rest of the dish.

So according to myfitnesspal.com there is 377 calories in a serving. I would say there was a little less as you got rid off a lot of the fat from the pancetta at the beginning. It is also less than 5% fat (only fat in it comes from the small amount of butter and the pancetta you used.

Anyway give it a go and as I have said before let me know what you think!

Buon appetito!!