Vegetable Risotto

This is a classic recipe with a cheat method – popping it in the microwave speeds it up and gives you time to do other things. It’s also great for using up leftover vegetables in your fridge.

Ingredients

1 medium onion
1 x 15ml spoon olive oil
1 clove garlic
350g risotto rice
1 litre boiling water
1 x reduced-salt vegetable stock cube
1 x 400g can flageolet beans in water
1 x 198g can sweetcorn
125g green beans
100g frozen peas
40g Parmesan cheese OR reduced-fat mature Cheddar cheese
Small bunch (10g) parsley to garnish (optional)

Equipment

Weighing scales
Chopping board
Sharp knife
Measuring spoons
3 litre capacity microwave-safe bowl with lid or clingfilm
Garlic press (optional)
Stirring spoon
Kettle
Measuring jug
Oven gloves
Can opener
Colander
Grater

Instructions

1. Peel and finely chop the onion and add to the microwave-safe bowl. Add the oil and stir well.
2. Heat for 2 minutes on full power. All timings for this recipe are based on an 800W microwave.
3. Peel and press or finely chop the garlic (chop it as small as you can), weigh the rice and add both to the onions. Stir well and heat for a further 2 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, measure 1 litre of boiling water into the measuring jug, crumble in the stock cube and stir to dissolve. Add the stock to the rice, stir well, cover with a lid or clingfilm, leaving a small area open, and cook for 10 minutes on full power.
5. While the rice is cooking, open the can of flageolet beans and drain and rinse them, drain the canned sweetcorn and wash and chop the green beans into 2.5cm sticks.
6. Stir the rice well before mixing in the green and flageolet beans; then cover and cook for 5 minutes.
7. Mix the sweetcorn and frozen peas into the rice, cover and cook for a final 3 minutes. Meanwhile, finely grate the cheese and chop the parsley (if using).
8. Lastly, stir in the grated cheese, sprinkle with chopped parsley (if using) and serve immediately.

Skills used include:
Washing, weighing, measuring, peeling, chopping, grating, mixing/combining and microwaving.

Top Tips

• It is important to stir the rice well each time as this releases starch and makes the dish creamy.
• If you are cooking for children aged 5 and under, don’t use a stock cube. They are high in salt, which we need to limit in young children’s diets. Experiment with herbs to flavour the dish instead. Also use reduced-fat Cheddar cheese instead of Parmesan as Parmesan is made from unpasteurised milk.

Something to try next time

• You can swap the sweetcorn and Parmesan for a tasty mushroom and goat’s cheese alternative. Finely slice 3 medium mushrooms and add at step 6, leaving out the sweetcorn at step 7. At step 8 stir in a 125g pack of soft goat’s cheese and 1 x 15ml spoon of finely chopped tarragon instead of the Parmesan and parsley.
• Try topping the finished risotto with 50g of fresh baby spinach leaves and 15 halved cherry tomatoes.
• You can swap the vegetables and beans for whatever you have in your fridge and cupboards, such as broccoli, spinach, fresh or canned tomatoes, chickpeas and different kinds of beans.

Prepare now, eat later

• Rice is best eaten as soon as it is cooked, but any leftover rice should be cooled as quickly as possible (within 1 hour) and stored in the fridge for no longer than 24 hours. When you reheat any rice, always check that the dish is steaming hot all the way through and never reheat it more than once.