Friday 21 January 2011

Recipe corner – Oven baked roasted red pepper and chorizo risotto

I must be on track at the moment, because this is the second recipe I’ve posted in a week! It’s so tasty though, I felt I had to share.
I love risotto, and this oven baked specimen means that you don’t have to spend a long time standing and stirring at the hob (not that this is a task that I object to particularly). The resulting texture is slightly less creamy than a traditional risotto – probably more akin to a paella.

This is an adaptation…an evolution, if you will, of a recipe that originally appeared on the Good Food magazine website. If you don’t already check this site out then go on, pop across now (as long as you come back here to copy this down afterwards). It has some fantastic, simple ideas for meals, plus, most of the recipes include a full nutritional breakdown which makes them easy to work into your day.

For the purposes of this post, I’ve calculated the points based on the individual ingredients. There are a few tweaks you could make to make it less pointy:

o Make it vegetarian by getting rid of the chorizo – total saving, 3 propoints per portion. Up the paprika a little if you do this for an extra flavour kick.

o Ditch the olive oil – total saving 2 propoints per portion. Use a spray instead.

o Use extra stock in place of the wine – total saving 1 propoint per portion.

o Reduce the total amount of Parmesan in the recipe by half (I wouldn’t ditch it altogether as it does add a lovely umami flavour) – total saving – 1 propoint per portion.

Ingredients

Tbsp olive oil
Red pepper, cut into quarter pieces
Red onion, finely chopped
Clove of garlic, crushed
50g chorizo sausage, diced
150g risotto rice
50ml white wine
½ tsp smoked paprika
½ tsp dried chilli flakes (opt)
200g (one small tin) chopped tomatoes

Tbsp balsamic vinegar
250ml veg or chicken stock
30g Parmesan, finely grated

Serves 2 / 15 pro points per portion

Firstly, roast your pepper. I find the easiest way to do this is to put the four pieces, skin side up, on a baking tray and stick them under a hot grill for 10-20 mins until the skin is blackened. Transfer the pepper into a plastic bag and cool. The skin will then slip off easily. Dice the flesh of the pepper.

In an ovenproof dish, warm the olive oil and add the chorizo. Cook for a while: the chorizo itself will release more oil as it heats up. Tip in the onion and the pepper, cook for several minutes until softening, then add the garlic and spices and cook for a minute or so more until the “raw” garlic smell is no longer present (I find adding the onion and garlic at the same time, as many recipes suggest, just causes the garlic to burn).

Now stir in your risotto rice, and make sure it is coated in the lovely, orangey oil. Then add the wine and allow to bubble down to almost nothing. Pour over the stock, tomatoes and add a good lug of balsamic vinegar for sweetness, cover the dish and transfer to a preheated oven (200 or 180 fan) for 25 minutes.

Stir through the Parmesan cheese before serving.

7 comments:

  1. NOM!!!!! I think this shall be tomorro nights tea :) thank you S.

    I shall be in the lovely land of York tomorrow being climbed all over by 7 year old twins, the thought of this will keep me going xxx

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  2. Sounds bloody lovely! Another stonking recipe from you :) xx

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  3. yum yum yum...you know how much i love a risotto! sounds fabbo! xox

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  4. I love risotto and have purchased the makings of this one 'cos it sounds scrummy. Trouble is, Rich not so keen on ris....ha, tough!! If he wants to cook, he can choose the menu. I blame your recipe of course....

    Lesley xx

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  5. hey, do you think there is any way i could make this in advance? making it for dinner with a friend on the same night i'm babysitting so advanced preparation tips would really be appreciated?x

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  6. sorry, another question! i don't understand what you mean by "In an ovenproof dish, warm the olive oil and add the chorizo. Cook for a while" - how am I cooking this, as at first I thought in an oven, but that step seems to come later...should it be in a grill? in a microwave? apologies, baking is my forte, i have no clue with cooking! :) (but i do know tht this receipt looks incredible)

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  7. Hi Iaine, thanks so much for visiting the blog!

    This recipe would probably work quite well preparing in advance! Firstly though, sorry for the confusion. You actually start it on the hob, so you use a casserole dish or something that you can transfer from the hob to the oven. If you don't have one, you could do the first few steps in a saucepan and then transfer to the oven proof dish for the baking.

    If you were doing it in advance, I'd do it right up to the stage at which you add the tomatoes, stock and vinegar and cover it. The rice will be hot at this stage, so will absorb some of the liquid immediately. You can then bake just before serving. I'd check it just after about 15 minutes - it may need a bit less cooking time, or it may need a splash more of stock (or water will do). The rice should be tender with no crunchy centre and the majority of the liquid should have disappeared when it is ready to serve. Then all you have to do is add your Parmesan.

    Hope this is all clear, but please get back to me if you need to - and happy cooking!

    Sx

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