Risotto al pomodoro, or tomato risotto, is a staple in Italian home cuisine. It’s simple, tasty and usually a crowd-pleaser. Risotto is generally quite easy to make, it just sounds fancy! The trick is letting the rice toast nicely before cooking it with any flavourful stock or broth.
Time : 30 minutes
Portion : feeds 2-3 people
Ingredients :
- 250 gr of long grain rice (Arborio rice would be ideal!) – £0.45
- Half a white onion – £ 0.59
- Tin of chopped tomatoes or passata – £0.60 or £1.19
- A stock cube – £0.29
- White wine (just a splash)
- 50 gr of cold butter – £0.63
- 50 gr of your preferred cheese (Parmesan is ideal)
- Chop half of a white onion finely
- Fry the onion on intermediate heat until it softens up, add a pinch of salt
- Wash your rice
- Put your rice in the pan with the onions and toast it up!
- Add a (optional) splash of white wine for additional flavour, try and use a dry one, not sweet!
- In a separate pot add your passata or chopped tomatoes (season with Italian herbs) and garlic.
- Now add your can of chopped tomatoes or passata and cook the rice in it – The rice will slowly absorb the liquid as it cooks. Never stop stirring the rice counterclockwise!
- In a separate pot, boil some stock, veggie or chicken, whichever you prefer
- Now add a ladle of the stock to the rice, wait for the liquid to seep in and repeat the process until the rice is cooked to your liking!
- Now turn off the heat
- This stage is called ‘mantecatura’ and it’s the key step that gives risotto depth of flavour… Add your cold butter and let it gently melt into the rice. Do the same with your cheese of choice. Never forget to stir!
Serve and enjoy!
Image provided by Sara Monguzzi