Vegetable
Resolution Risotto
- Prep time 15 minutes
- Cook time 30 minutes
- Serves 2
Author Notes
With the turn of the new year, many of us are looking for new resolutions. Whether it’s a renewed desire for some sort of self-growth, fulfillment, or maybe just more smiles and less frowns in 2024. Or if you’re like me, maybe you just want a solution to do life better next year, a recipe for a better year. While I don’t have the answers to all of my (and your) woes, I do have a literal recipe that might help.
It’s a recipe for a special, thematic risotto for the new year. A resolution risotto, if you will.
To make it, take a bunch of bitter greens and vegetables that you don’t like. It might be cilantro or spinach, broccoli or green bell peppers. For me, it’s bitter gourd and kale. Whatever you pick, you can take them to symbolize all the bitterness, anxiety, and negativity you felt in 2023. While we might usually avoid these vegetables, just like how some of us (i.e. me) tend to run away from our problems, this new year, maybe it’s time to embrace them and face them head-on.
So, instead of shoving aside these undesirable vegetables, blend them up into a pesto, then saute them to take the edge off the bitterness. They’ll turn sweeter, softer, and easier to digest, both literally and metaphorically. Then, in goes the risotto rice and a simmer in stock, and those initially bitter, undesirable greens will turn into flavor for your risotto and give it a herby, earthy sweetness. It’ll be just like how your mistakes and mishaps of 2023 will turn into fuel to shape you into a better, stronger person in 2024. (Well, hopefully.)
And to finish off the risotto, you’ll add in a good dose of butter, parm, black pepper and shavings of walnut or pecans. So as 2024 rolls around, I hope things go buttery smooth for you. I hope you’ll have plenty of cheesy goodness in your days, a bit of extra pep to your step, and maybe even some moments of spontaneous nuttiness.
And with all that, here’s to a creamier, richer, better 2024. Happy New Year, you! —Jun
Ingredients
-
2½ cups
(~200g) undesirable vegetables, packed (I used a mixture of kale, spinach, cilantro, green bell peppers, and bitter gourd)
-
3
garlic cloves, peeled
-
¼ cups
(60ml) olive oil, divided
-
2 tablespoons
(30ml) lemon juice
-
½ teaspoons
(2g) kosher salt
-
¼ teaspoons
(1g) ground black pepper
-
½
yellow onion, finely diced
-
3 cups
(720ml) chicken or vegetable stock
-
1 cup
(180g) short-grain rice like arborio or calrose
-
¼ cups
(60ml) white wine
-
2 tablespoons
(30g) unsalted butter, cubed
-
½ cups
(100g) grated parmesan cheese
-
½ teaspoons
(2g) freshly ground black pepper
-
4-5
pecans or walnuts, to garnish
Directions
- Prep the vegetables. Pick the leafy greens, deseed and chunk up the bell peppers and bitter gourd.
- In a food processor, blend the prepped vegetables, garlic cloves, 3 tablespoons of olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper together.
- Place a deep pan over medium heat, then add the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the pan, along with the diced onion. Saute for 5 minutes, until the onions turn slightly translucent. Then add in the blended vegetable pesto into the pan. Saute for a further 5 minutes.
- While the pesto is sauteing, pour the chicken stock in a pot or saucepan, and bring to a boil, then turn it down to a gentle simmer.
- Add the rice to the sauteing pesto, and stir around to gently fry the rice for 1 minute. Then add in the white wine to deglaze. Then, add in 2 ladles (approximately 4 oz.) of the hot chicken stock to the pan, and let the rice cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring constantly so the rice doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.
- When the rice is looking dry, add another ladle of stock to the pan and let it cook and simmer, stirring often. Continue cooking the rice this way for 20 minutes, periodically adding more stock into the pan to cook the rice, until the rice is completely cooked. (You can try tasting the rice for doneness; it should be tender but still remain as distinct grains and not mush.)
- Add in the cubed butter and grated parmesan cheese into the pan, and stir it into the rice to melt the cheese.
- To serve, portion the risotto into 1 or 2 plates, top with black pepper, grated or chopped pecans, and more cheese if you wish. Eat immediately, and make your resolutions come true!
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