Oh, I have been very alliterative lately! The last recipe I posted was Parsley Pesto, today it’s Roasted Radish Risotto, and I made a Spring Green Soup the other day. If I wanted to go all-out I could even call this dish Roasted Radish, Red Onion & Rocket Risotto, but that’s a bit too wordy…
I’ve just devoured this dish for dinner tonight, and am feeling very pleased with myself. I impulse bought the radishes in Aldi and they’ve been lingering in the fridge for a week. I’m not particularly keen on them raw as they can be very peppery, but they are such a nice colour I was drawn in by them. I thought I’d try roasting them in the hopes that would mellow the flavour – and it did! The radishes lost their pepperiness almost completely in the oven, but don’t worry, if you like pepperiness you can get it back with the addition of the rocket.
RECIPE Serves 2 Per serving: 486 cals; 9.6g fat; 71.8g carbs (3.9g fibre); 8.5g protein Time: 25 minutes
You will need: 150g Arborio risotto rice 1 large red onion 1/2 bulb garlic 200g radishes 2 tbsp olive oil 1 knob butter 200ml vegetable stock A splash white wine Parmesan A handful fresh, washed rocket (arugula) Fresh, washed basil leaves
1. Pre-heat the oven to around 250 degreed/230 degrees fan.
2. Cut the stalk and root off each radish and thoroughly rinse. Chop the red onion into large chunks and a bulb of garlic in half horizontally. Tip everything into a roasting dish, toss in 1tbsp olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast the vegetables in the middle of the oven for around 10 to 15 minutes.
(I used two separate dishes only because, having never roasted a radish before, I didn’t know whether they would roast at the same rate as the onions.)
3. While the vegetables are roasting, in a frying pan heat 1tbps olive oil and a knob of butter. Add the rice and stir to coat in the fat. Once the rice is coated, pour in a bit of stock – perhaps a quarter of the full amount – stir, and leave at a simmer to absorb.
4. Once that amount of stock has reduced, add in the same amount again, stir, and leave at a simmer to absorb. Repeat this step until all the stock has been used up, and continue adding liquid (wine, more stock or water) until the rice is cooked and soft all the way through. Once all my stock was used, I added a splash of wine. I still needed a bit more liquid as the rice wasn’t fully cooked, so added water.
5. You do not need to stand over the pan, stirring constantly, but do stir occasionally to ensure the rice isn’t sticking. Stirring also releases the starch in the rice and creates the smooth, creamy texture that is an important characteristic of a risotto.
6. Once the vegetables are roasted, remove a couple of the garlic cloves from the bulb. If you slide a knife down the side of a clove, it should just slide out. Squash the soft garlic with a knife and add to the rice. You can use the remaining roasted garlic to make garlic butter – squash or puree the cloves and mix them into soft butter.
7. While the rice is still bubbling away, grate in some parmesan cheese – however much looks and tastes good.
8. Add the radishes and red onion to the rice, then stir through a handful of rocket and some torn basil leaves.
Roasted radishes
9. Serve immediately with extra parmesan on top!
If you give this recipe a go, please do let me know what you think and share it with your friends. I really hope you like it!
Butterpear 