feel food club

Risotto

Family Favourite Easy Pea(sy) and Mint Risotto

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Risotto always is a good choice. Everyone loves it. And the best part about it (besides it being ultra delicious); it is so versatile! You can make it with anything and everything, try different combos, make it seasonal and make it as you like it! Just like we’re doing it with this one. To make it fresher and more summery, we are throwing in some greens & herbs and just taking it next level!

What is special about this dish?

The combination! Mint and pea is a combo that we (unfortunately) do not find very often. Yet, it is so ultra tasty! The peas add a buttery, soft taste to the risotto and the mint accounts for a fresh taste, which you would usually not expect in risotto, but is really, really good. If you want some more risotto recipes, you can check out the wild garlic risotto or the creamy, green vegan risotto!

A little risotto story

Actually, it is quite surprising that I still like risotto as of today since I have a little history with it. As a kid (and still now), when eating out, I’ve always loved trying every single dish on the table. So when we went out to eat, I’d pick up my fork and walk around the table to try the dish my brother ordered, my mom had and my dad ate. I simply loved exploring new flavours.
So once during our holidays in Italy we went out to eat. I was very little, something like 6 or 7 years, and ordered a risotto. My parents‘ and my brother’s dish had arrived before mine did, so I took my fork and walked around the table. Not surprisingly, I could then not finish my risotto, because I have already had quite a bunch of food before I even started eating mine.
My dad, teased me and said (it was well obvious that it was a joke) I should finish or I can never try his meal before mine again. So I, as a little defiant and stubborn kid, knew it was a joke but because I was so stubborn I finished it anyways. My mom and my brother had a lot of fun watching me and my dad and I was so full afterwards that I couldn’t have even looked at more food. Well, anyways, the chef then came out of the kitchen and asked everyone how they liked the meal. You can probably imagine how my family bursted into laughter when he came to ask me.
Although this was (a teeny tiny bit) unpleasant for me, I did not learn my lesson (because I did not want to) and up to this day try everyone else’s dishes.
And, despite all of this, I still love risotto.

Is risotto healthy?

Back to the more important things. While risotto is incredibly nourishing for the soul and the happiness, it is not quite as nourishing for our bodies. Why? In order for it to taste this delicious, it is packed with many saturated fats from the cheese and butter, which are not so great for us. Nevertheless, there are a few things we can change to make it more delicious.

For example, instead of using butter only, we are using a mix of cream cheese and butter. This makes it a bit lighter in terms of fats. Then also, we are adding some peas, for extra fibre and vitamins and mint for extra nutrients. Justa. few swaps, and they do make a difference.

How to make this dish?

Risotto making really is not difficult but it is a workout. It takes some time and effort because you constantly need to stir. We start by frying the finely chopped onions in some olive oil. This adds a really delicious flavour to the entire dish. Then, we add the rice and fry it too before we deglaze it with some white wine. Now the fun part starts. A scoop at a time, we are adding some vegetable broth and letting it simmer (while stirring) until the rice has absorbed it. Then we add another scoop, and another, and so on until the rice is ready to eat. Shortly before that, we’ll add the peas.

As soon as the rice is done and the liquid is absorbed (it really should be very well absorbed because otherwise it’ll be too runny), we can stir in the chopped mint, butter, cream cheese and parmesan. And that already is it! If you want, you could add something on top like grilled zucchini, prawns or anything else, or just enjoy it as is!

This, as the name already suggests, is a real family favourite. And really, you can barely go wrong with it. Very easy to make, and very, very delicious!

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Family Favourite, Easy, Pea(sy) & Mint Risotto

Not your average risotto. Much more fun, a bit healthier and SO much flavour. The combination of peas and mint is just outrageous and perfect for spring and summer. An absolute family favourite!

Course Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 5 Minuten
Cook Time 25 Minuten
Total Time 30 Minuten
Servings 4 people

What you will need

  • 1,5 l vegetable broth
  • 320 g risotto rice
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 white onion
  • a splash white wine
  • 400 g peas
  • 1 handful mint
  • 25 g butter
  • 45 g cream cheese
  • 80 g parmesan cheese

How to

  1. Finely dice the onion. Heat up the oil and sautée the onion in it until it is glassy. Add the rice and gently stir through until everything is combined and slightly covered with the oil. Deglaze it with the splash of white wine after about a minute. Reduce the heat to medium-high and add a scoop of the vegetable broth. Constantly stir everything until the vegetable broth has fully been absorbed by the rice, then add the next scoop.

  2. Repeat until the rice is cooked through, for about 15-20 minutes.

  3. In the meantime grate the parmesan, measure out the other ingredients and finely chop the mint.

  4. Once the rice is almost done cooking (after about 20 minutes), add in the peas. When done, take it off the heat and stir in cheeses, butter and mint.

  5. Once everything is well combined, plate it and garnish with some extra parmesan cheese and mint.

Have fun making (and especially eating) it!
Love,
Katie // Une Petite Cuisinière

The Ultimate Creamy Vegan Green Risotto with Caramelised Onions

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Risotto but vegan? Yes!! A creamy, healthy and vegan deliciousness? Hell yes!! Pure comfort food but nutritious and fairly easy to make! Sounds too good? Try it out! You won’t be disappointed!

I know that risotto usually is not vegan. But that does not mean that you cannot make it vegan!! Actually opposite, why not challenge ourselves to create a vegan risotto instead? That’s what I thought! And this is why you now have got this (super delicious) recipe! 

What is special about this dish? 

Kind of pretty much everything. Risotto usually contains parmesan cheese and butter. And is not green. Well, of course you can make it green because you can basically add anything into risotto, from prawns to wild garlic, porcini mushrooms and beetroot. But I have to say, I have never seen a green risotto before! 

How to make vegan risotto 

The rise base is the same as for regular risotto. So (vegetable) broth, onions, olive oil and arborio rice, also known as risotto rice. Instead of the cheese and butter to create the creamy texture we are using soaked cashews for the texture, nutritional yeast for the cheesy flavor (also known as Hefeflocken in German, you can find that at most organic stores), cornstarch to bind, plant based milk, and mustard. Not to forget about the greens. I prefer a mixture of steamed spinach and kale and basil. The first two add a bunch of nutrients and the basil adds a lot of flavor. The combination is a dream. And also, to not make the risotto be boring we add some extra caramelized onions. 

Is it healthy? 

Yes! It actually is. While regular risotto is not very healthy (but very delicious), this one actually is healthy too! Why? The greens add a lot of vitamins and fibre. But the aspect that really changes it is the substitution of the cheese and butter with the creamy sauce. The cashews add some protein and unsaturated fats, which are better for us than unsaturated ones. Also the nutritional yeast adds a lot of nutrients! So yes, it is healthy! And a comfort food at the same time!! 

Meal prep and family friendly

A tick for both of them! It is very meal prep friendly because it still tastes at least as good when reheated! It will be creamy again and very good! What I also love is that it is very family friendly! If someone really cannot go without meat or seafood, it still is possible to add some form of meat of fish! And for those who just want some plant-based deliciousness it is perfect as is!

I really am in love with this recipe on colder days especially now in fall or in winter! It is super comforting while still being super nutritious and delicious! Plus, it is not very hard to make while it sounds, looks and tastes pretty fancy in my opinion! 

I hope that you will enjoy this recipe as much as I do and that it will upgrade your cozy season a lot! 

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The Ultimate Creamy Vegan Green Risotto with Caramelised Onions

A healthy creamy deliciousness. At least as good as regular risotto just healthy and vegan.

Course dinner, lunch, Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 10 Minuten
Cook Time 20 Minuten
Servings 4 servings
Calories 525 kcal

What you will need

  • 280 g risotto rice
  • 2 l vegetable broth
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 white onion

For the creamy sauce

  • 50 g cashew nuts (soaked for 4 hours if your blender is not high speed)
  • 160 ml plant based milk
  • 2 tsp mustard
  • 4 tbsp nutritional yeast
  • 1 tbsp cornstarch
  • 2 handful spinach
  • 2 handful kale
  • 1 handful basil

For the rest:

  • 2 small red onions
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp honey

How to

  1. Heat up the vegetable broth. In a large pot heat up the olive oil. Finely dice the onion and add to the oil once hot. Sautée for about 1 minute until shiny. Add the rice and cook for another minute. Turn the heat down to medium and add a cup of the vegetable broth. Let the rice soak up all of the vegetable broth added while stiring continuesly. When it has cooked away, repeat the process for about 12 minutes.

  2. In the meantime steam or cook the spinach and kale for 4 minutes. Add them to a blender along with the cashews. plant milk, nutritional yeast, mustard, basil and cornstarch. Blend until creamy.

  3. In a pan heat up the remaining oil. Slice the red onions into thin slices. Add them to the oil with the honey. Let them cook down on medium high heat until they have shrunken down and gotten caramelized.

  4. After about 12 minutes of the rice cooking add the green sauce and the onions. Mix through very well and cook for another 3-4 minutes until the rice is cooked through.

  5. Seperate onto plates and serve with some extra nutritional yeast! Enjoy!

Happy cooking,
Enjoy,
Katie // Une Petite Cuisinière 

Wild Garlic Risotto

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Food tastes different when you have a relation to it. Like in this recipe. We went for a Sunday walk and my mom and I picked the wild garlic ourselves and cooked it into this delicious risotto for lunch. It makes you worship the ingredients, taste and work you put in it even more, which is so beautiful.

But I know we do not alway have the time or opportunity to go and pick the ingredients ourselves in the park or the woods, so it definitely is fine if you buy it at a fresh farmers market or even at the super market. But it will not totally taste the same as if you picked it yourself.

Risotto is such a must and a weekend meal in our house! We love to make it various ways. With peas, with mushrooms, with saffron, honestly options are endless. But it is spring, and right now almost everywhere in Austria you can find wild garlic and smell it from several meters apart. So we decided to take a walk and pick some ourselves and take it home.

Risotto actually is way less complicated than it might seem at first sight. It just is a lot of stirring, stirring, and stirring. No joke, it is an arm workout. So if you are currently in quarantine and wanting to work out and cook something good, here you have the perfect combination! The stirring makes it possible for the rice to absorb the liquid slowly and in depth to create a more intense flavour and a super creamy texture. You should not add all of the broth at one time because then the rice will become soggy and not creamy, which we do not want.

Also, the ingredients are pretty simple and you most likely have them all at home. It starts with the base: rice. For risotto, there is special type of rice, which is originally used in Italy. You can find it in any supermarket. The other main contents of this dish are broth and cheese. For the broth you can either use vegetable broth or chicken broth. Vegetable for the vegetarian version, chicken if you want more flavour.

After the cooking process is done, in other words the rice has finished cooking, we take it off the heat to stir in the remains ingredients. These are a mix of butter, grated parmesan cheese, cream cheese and of course the chopped wild garlic. The butter adds a lot of flavour and the cheeses melt into the rice giving it the typical risotto texture.

You can either serve it as it is because it is the perfect dish like that. If you want to serve it as a side with some grilled prawns or roasted beef that works perfectly fine too! Just grate some fresh parmesan on top and serve it with some wild garlic leaves.

This is such a comforting and family friendly meal. Perfect weekend lunch or dinner, super versatile and incredibly good. I hope you all like it and will enjoy cooking and eating it!

Love, Katie // One Petite Cuisinière

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Wild Garlic Risotto

Family friendly, spring viby, super creamy and delicious risotto. Weekend meal plans are saved. With fresh wild garlic and creamy rice this is incredibly delicious.

Course bowl, dinner, lunch, Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 5 Minuten
Cook Time 20 Minuten
Total Time 25 Minuten
Servings 4 servings
Calories 509 kcal

What you will need

That is what you need:

  • 1,5 l vegetable broth
  • 320 g Risotto rice
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 white onion
  • 50 g wild garlic
  • 25 g butter
  • 45 g cream cheese
  • 80 g parmesan cheese

How to

This is how it works:

  1. Finely dice the onion. Heat up the oil and satuée the onion in it until it is glassy. Add the rice and gently stir through until everything is combined and slightly covered with the oil. Take one large ladle of the vegetable broth and add it to the rice. Reduce the heat to medium high and stir the vegetable broth through until everything has cooked into the rice, then add the next laddle.

  2. Repeat until the rice is cooked through, for about 15-20 minutes.

  3. In the meantime grate the parmesan, measure out the other ingredients and chop the wild garlic.

  4. Once the rice is done cooking, take it off the heat and stir the cheeses, the butter and the wild garlic in.

  5. Once everything is well combined, plate it in four bowls, garnish with some extra parmesan cheese and wild garlic.

    Serve and enjoy!

Creamy Pesto Rice with Roasted Fall Veggies and Crispy Chickpeas

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I am a huge fan of pesto, when made freshly and in season. We make it a lot in summer. Pick the basil from out herb garden, use olive oil our neighbors made themselves from their trees in Croatia, add some good Italian Parmesan cheese, some delicious pine nuts and a pinch of salt. That’s at simpel as it is and that’s why I love it! So few ingredients, so much flavor! But now it’s October! And unfortunately it’s getting colder and there is no way for the basil to grow in our garden. Still, we all love pesto and want to enjoy it and that’s why I decided to add a little twist to it! 

This pesto recipe is not like the traditional Italian one but it is as delicious! It is made with fall ingredients. Instead of the basil I decided to use Swiss chard, and the pine nuts are substituted for almonds. I kept the Parmesan cheese and the olive oil because I believe that these really make the pesto taste like pesto and make it insanely addicting. To make it you simply have to roast the nits a but because that enhances the flavor, and then blend it up with the Swiss chard and a pinch of salt. Yes, that’s right, only those three ingredients! NEVER blend pesto with the Olive Oil and the cheese. That’s just not how it’s done. At least not in Italy. After blending, the Olive oil and Parmesan are stored in by hand, one by one, slowly. This makes it really creamy instead of mushy! 

Pesto is also great in nutritional value! Although it is quite high in calories it is super healthy! The greens provide you with a lot of minerals, vitamins, and fiber! The nuts add some healthy fats and a protein kick as well as other nutrients! The olive oil also provides you with some more healthy fats, which help you absorb the proteins better and the cheese gives some essential protein. So if you love pesto, here’s another reason to add in on everything. But honestly, I believe that this recipe doesn’t only work great in this dish but also you can totally add that pesto on top of scrambled eggs, into pasta, on top of toast, or whatever is on your mind! 

For the grain as carbohydrates I decided to use white rice. If you want to make it even healthier use whole grain/ brown rice but it is quicker when using white rice since it doesn’t have as long cooking times! If you do not like rice at all but still want to tray making this recipe you can substitute it for another grain! Pasta or Quinoa would work great too! Together with the pesto, the rice gets really creamy, kind of risotto-ish but not completely. Adding pesto if any sauce to rice is such a great way to spice up things a little and get your traditional plain rice to a mouthwatering dish! 

So, now we have the rice and the pesto… but what even is a bowl without some toppings and crunch. With the vegetables you can really feel free to add whichever are your favorites. I used cauliflower and brussel sprouts because they are in season now. Also, the brussel sprouts add some more greens into the dish and I love using the cauliflower because it is a great vegetable which can easily take on the favor of the spices! That way you can really taste your seasoning! Drizzle a little olive oil on top and roast them until crispy! This also works really great for meal prep if you just want to roast a big bunch of vegetables in the beginning of the week!

The chickpeas are coated with a great amount of spices and a good amount of olive oil! The oil is necessary in order to get a crunch and to intensify the flavor. If you want to make them extra crispy, pan fry them, but they are also super delicious when made in the oven plus you don’t have to wash an extra dish! So it’s a win win! 

When it’s all put together it just makes such a bomb combination! The creamy rice (if you want to make it extra ? add some more fresh Parmesan cheese on top!), the hearty roasted vegetables and the crispy chickpeas just make such a great combo! It is such a great comfort meal with such delicious fall meal packed with local and seasonal ingredients! A perfect mid-week dinner and great for meal prep! I hope that you will enjoy it as much as I do! 

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Creamy Pesto Rice with Crispy Chickpeas and Vegetables

An ideal weeknight dinner with a delicious twist on traditional pesto with crispy chickpeas and roasted veggies!

Course dinner, lunch, Main Course
Prep Time 15 Minuten
Cook Time 25 Minuten
Total Time 40 Minuten
Servings 2 People
Calories 635 kcal

What you will need

  • 100 G Rice
  • 100 g Chickpeas caned, washed & rinsed
  • 1 tbsp Olive Oil
  • 1 handful sage
  • 180 G Brussel Sprouts
  • 180 G Cauliflower
  • 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
  • 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 1/2 Tsp Paprika Powder
  • 1/2 Tsp Chilli Powder
  • 1/2 Tsp Turmeric Powder

For the Pesto:

  • 2 stalks Swiss Chard
  • 20 g Almonds
  • 20 g Parmesan Cheese freshly grated
  • 1 tbsp Olive Oil
  • 1,5-3 tbsp Water can sub for olive oil for even more flavor
  • 1 tsp salt

How to

That‘s how it works:

  1. Roast the almonds in a non stick pan over medium high heat for about 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

  2. Into a food processor add the almonds, the Swiss chard and the salt and pulse until combined! Pour the mixture into a bowl and alternately add the grated Parmesan cheese, olive oil, and water into the mixture until it gets all creamy and rich! If you want to make it all Italian, you can only add olive oil, but I decided to make it a little lighter so I mixed it with water.

  3. In the meantime preheat the oven to 180C. Wash and rinse the brussel sprouts and cut them in half. In a bowl combine them with about 1/2 tbsp of Olive Oil and the balsamic vinegar. Spread them onto a third of a baking tray lined with parchment paper.

  4. Cut of the cauliflower into smaller pieces. Add them into a bowl, along with chili, paprika, and turmeric, 1/2 tbsp of olive Oil and salt. Combine them all and place on another third of the baking tray.

  5. Wash, drain and tap the chickpeas dry for extra crispyness. Add the Olive oil, sea salt, and finely chopped up sage into a bowl along with the chickpeas and toss it. Add them to the remaining third of the baking tray and bake everything for 20-25 minutes!

  6. In the meantime cook the rice according to package instructions. About 3 minutes before it being done, add the pesto into the pot, keeping 1 tabslespoon aside. When done, stir it all together and you will see that the parmesan cheese has melted and it is all creamy.

  7. By now the vegetables and chickpeas should be done and crispy too!. Seperate the rice and onto two bowls. Top them with the vegetables and chickpeas and drizzle the remaining pesto on top. Grate some fresh parmesan for the finishing touch and enjozy!