Balsamic Roasted Tomato and Chorizo Risotto

Oh dear goodness I love this dish. Just looking at the pictures makes me want to pop out to the shops to buy some chorizo and tomatoes (I have everything else in the cupboards already) so I can whip it up. Then I remember that it's 9.30pm, I've already had my dinner, and that would be pretty silly.

Still tempting though.

I think one of my favourite things about this dish is the versatility of it. Have some chicken to use up? Throw that in instead of the chorizo. Have an aversion to peas, but love a bit of courgette? Swap it in (although you may want to cook it off with the onions to make sure it's cooked through)! I also love that it makes you feel like a proper chef (you made risotto!) and gets you all sorts of admiring looks from your fellow diners, but really it couldn't be much easier. It's fancy comfort food- perfect for a cold winter evening, or a crisp autumn evening, or a fresh spring evening... really it's good for any season but summer, and I'd even find an excuse then!

Maybe 9.30pm's not too late for a second dinner after all... I can smell the rosemary already...

 

Balsamic Roasted Tomato and Chorizo Risotto
Serves 4

Ingredients
2 cups Risotto rice
250g Chorizo sausage, thinly sliced
1 cup frozen peas
200g cherry tomatoes, halved
1 onion, finely chopped
50g Parmesan cheese, finely grated
1 litre chicken stock
175ml white wine
Sprig of fresh rosemary, leaves only
4 tblspns Balsamic vinegar
2 tblspns Olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
Salt and pepper, to season

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 180c/ 160c fan/ 350f/ Gas 4 .

2) Mix together the balsamic vinegar, olive oil, rosemary in a small bowl. Place the cherry tomatoes in baking tray and cover them with the vinegar mixture. Season well, then roast for 20-25 minutes.

3) Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a large high sided frying pan and add in the garlic and onion. Cook for five minutes over a medium heat, until the onion is soft and starting to turn golden. Add in the chorizo and cook for a further five minutes, until the chorizo has started to colour and has released its oils (how gorgeous is that colour?!).

4) Add your rice and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring constantly so that it is well coated. Add in the wine, and simmer for a further couple of minutes until it has reduced by about a third (really until the smell of alcohol isn't so strong).

5) Start adding the chicken stock, but only little by little- you want to just cover the ingredients with stock, then wait until that has been absorbed before adding more to just cover it again. Keep going for about 15 - 20 minutes. When you add in the last of your stock, add your frozen peas too and stir them in (they should only take a couple of minutes to cook through).

6) Take the tomatoes out of the oven and add them to the pan, along with the awesome sticky goodness from the tray. Add most of the parmesan, then really gently fold everything in.

7) For a perfect risotto, you need to rest it. Cover the pan and try to leave it alone for a few minutes, to allow the flavours and ingredients to settle. Serve with a sprinkling of the remaining parmesan and dive in.

 

**Update - If you would like to try out a vegan version of this dish, one of my clever blogger friends, Sandra at Vegan Mother Hubbard, has veganized this dish! Go check it out!**

 



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