Don’t immediately diss this because it’s made with tinned tomatoes. It’s a great dish and one of the most popular in my house (where it’s known as risotto margherita because it uses the same ingredients as the pizza). To get it done in 30 minutes you have to work fast at the beginning. After that, it’s just stirring. It’s up to you how far you go with the embellishments.
Timings
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 25 minutes
Serves
4
Ingredients
- ½ tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 75g butter
- ½ medium onion, very finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove, very finely chopped
- 350g risotto rice
- 100ml dry white wine or dry vermouth
- 600ml vegetable stock (or chicken if you prefer) – you may need a little more, or you can use water once your stock has run out
- 1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes (I use Mutti)
- 75g Parmesan, grated
Optional extras
- 8-12 little round balls of mozzarella (bocconcini)
- 4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 6 anchovies, very finely chopped
- 1 tbsp parsley, finely chopped
Method
- Heat the olive oil and a knob of butter in a heavy-bottomed pan and gently sauté the onion until it’s soft but not coloured. Add the garlic and cook for two minutes. Stir in the risotto rice, making sure it all gets coated in the fat, then add the white wine or vermouth and stir until it has reduced almost completely.
- Heat the stock in a separate pan until it’s gently simmering.
- Stir the tomatoes into the rice and keep stirring over a medium-low heat, then add a ladleful of stock. Once the rice has absorbed all the liquid you’ve added, add some more, stirring continuously. Keep stirring and adding stock (or water) until the rice is cooked but still has a little bite left in each grain. Add the rest of the butter – you don’t have to use it all, but it does make the risotto very luscious – stirring until it has melted, then add the Parmesan.
- Check the seasoning – the Parmesan and reduced stock will have made it quite salty, but you might need a bit more – and add pepper.
- Finish with the mozzarella, if using, and allow it to melt a little in the heat. Stir together the extra-virgin olive oil, anchovies and parsley, again if using, and spoon some over each serving.