Creamy risotto with vegetables

A recipe from cooking-ez.com

For 6 people, you will need:

• 1 2 carrots
• 2 2 courgettes
• 3 ¼ cauliflower
• 4 1 kohlrabi
• 5 2 spring onions (scallions)
• 6 3 turnips
• 7 300 g rice
• 8 1 chicken stock cube
• 9 6 tablespoons olive oil
• 10 1 glass dry white wine
• 11 100 ml liquid cream
• 12 100 g Parmesan (Parmigiano Reggiano)
• 13 1 shallot
• 14 Salt
• 15 Pepper
• 16 1 bunch Basil (optional)
• Total weight: 2,605 grams

Times:

Preparation	Cooking	Start to finish
2 hours 35 min.	20 min.	2 hours 55 min.

Step by step recipe

1	Peel and chop 1 shallot finely.
2	Peel and slice 2 spring onions (scallions) thinly, including about 2 inches of green tops.
3	Wash quickly ¼ cauliflower under tap, then divide off small florets.
4	Peel and wash 2 carrots, cut into small sticks.
5	Peel and wash 3 turnips, cut into small sticks.
6	Prepare 2 courgettes, cut in small pieces.
7	Peel and wash 1 kohlrabi, cut into small sticks.
8	Boil a large pan of salted water, add a chicken stock cube. When boiling, tip in kohlrabi, and cook until it's just tender (not overdone).
9	Remove from stock, and cool in cold water.
10	When completely cool, drain carefully (tip: use a salad spinner for this). Set aside. Continue in the same way for all the other vegetables, one sort at a time, except for the shallot and spring onions.
11	Take 950 ml of vegetables stock. You can use the rest to cook other vegetables in another recipe, or pasta or rice. The result will be much tastier than with plain water.
12	Heat 6 tablespoons olive oil in a large pan on medium heat.
13	Add shallot and spring onions, salt and pepper, and cook for one minute or two.
14	Tip in 300 g rice all at once...
15	... and stir carefully for 2 or 3 minutes, until rice "pearls".
16	To "pearl" rice means to cook gently in oil or butter until it becomes translucent.
17	When rice is pearled, add the glass of dry white wine, and continue to stir until rice absorbs all the wine. Turn heat down to low.
18	Add some vegetable stock, and continue to mix until rice absorbs it all. And so on, until you have used up all the stock. That's the (tiring) secret of a good risotto, you must keep on stirring.
19	When all the stock is used but rice is still wet (a good risotto should never be dry)...
20	... add all the vegetables, and stir carefully.
21	Pour in 100 ml liquid cream.
22	Add 100 g Parmesan (Parmigiano Reggiano). Stir again, check seasoning, and cook for 2 or 3 more minutes, just to heat the vegetables through.
23	Serve piping hot (heat serving plates), garnish with a basil leaf, a trickle of olive oil, and put out a bowl of Parmesan for guests who like to add it.

Remarks

This recipe is not very complicated, but there is a lot of work in preparing the vegetables, and you need to stir it constantly(or nearly) during cooking.
For a better appearence with spring onions, I suggest that you remove them from the pan as soon as they are cooked, then cook the rice alone and add them later with all the others vegetables. In that way they will keep their nice green color.

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