Risotto with roasted tomatoes

The magic of risotto is the love – you spend 20 minutes of your time on something, you’re putting love straight into it. It’s hokey, but it’s true. Or if it isn’t true, it ought to be.

Ingredients (serves 2)

1 cup of rice

3 cups of hot stock

1 cup of white wine

1 medium onion

½ cup of parmesan cheese (grated)

2 large handfuls of tomatoes – I’m a big fan of the heirloom mini tomatoes at Trader Joes – I’d throw in the whole box

2 ½ tbsp butter

1 tbsp olive oil

Salt and pepper

• Dice the onion finely and fry in 1tbsp of olive oil and ½ tbsp of butter on a low heat until it has softened. Season it with salt and pepper – the salt will make it release water too, so it will be less likely to burn
• Pour / re-hydrate the stock into a pan and keep warm
• Once the onion is cooked, pour in the cup of rice and toss in the oil to coat.
• Add the glass of wine and let bubble for a moment so that the alcohol burns off.
• Add the stock one ladle-ful at a time, stirring constantly. Keep the heat fairly gentle, you want the stock to seep into the rice, rather than boil away into thin air.
• Meanwhile, toss the tomatoes in a good glug of olive oil and some salt and pepper, then put on a tray in the oven for 10 minutes at 325
• Keep stirring the risotto for about 20 minutes. You may not need all the stock, or, conversely, you may need to keep going with water until the rice is cooked – the texture should be fairly liquid – somewhere between a fork and a spoon.
• Stir the tomatoes into the risotto and add the cheese and the butter. Stir then take off the heat, cover and let rest for 2 minutes.
• Serve with a grinding of black pepper and more cheese.
• If you have basil leaves, rip a few onto each serving
• If you have basil oil, drizzle a tsp on top

This originally appeared in a post about yoga, risotto and sex.