Italian vegetable risotto

Risotto is comfort food at its best, and you can ring the changes by adding almost any fresh veggies you have to hand.

Ingredients

60g half fat butter
1 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
350g Arborio rice
2 vegetable stock cubes, dissolved in 600ml boiling water
400g mixed fresh vegetables, such as asparagus, diced red pepper, baby corn, button mushroom slices, tiny broccoli spears, courgette, mangetout
410g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
Black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs, such as parsley or thyme
40g Hard Italian Cheese
For men, add 2 slices garlic bread (50g) (183 kcal)

Preparation time:

15 minutes

Cooking time:

25 minutes

Skill level:

Medium

Serves:

Four

Melt 25g of the half fat butter in a large pan, add the onion and garlic and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until soft but not brown.
Add the rice and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes.
In another pan, keep the stock hot. Using a ladle, add about 150ml hot stock and simmer the rice gently, stirring frequently, until the liquid has been absorbed. Continue adding the stock in this way and cooking (about 10 minutes) until the rice is almost tender.
Stir in the vegetables and continue cooking gently for about 5 minutes until the rice and vegetables are tender, virtually all the stock has been absorbed and the mixture is creamy.
Season to taste, add Parmesan and stir in the herbs and remaining half fat butter before serving.

Nutritional information per serving:

kcalories

544

protein

17.7g

carbs

84.7g

fat

13.4g