Pumpkin and corn risotto
A vibrant, golden yellow vegetarian risotto that looks good, tastes wonderful and is packed with healthy beta-carotene and fibre. The mozzarella added right at the end melts into creamy goodness. Serve with a crisp green leaf salad.
Servings | Prep Time | Cook Time |
4servings | 15minutes | 30minutes |
Servings | Prep Time |
4servings | 15minutes |
Cook Time |
30minutes |
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove crushed
- 1 cup risotto rice
- 1 lb pumpkin or 1 small butternut squash peeled, deseeded and cut into 1 cm pieces
- 2 large fresh sage leaves finely chopped
- pinch saffron threads
- 3 1/3 cup diluted salt-reduced or homemade vegetable stock plus 2 tablespoons, hot
- 3/4 cup frozen corn kernels
- 1/4 lb mozzarella cheese diced
- 1/3 cup pumpkin seeds
Ingredients
Servings: servings
Units:
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- Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based pot over a medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic and cook gently for 4-5 minutes until softened but not browned, stirring occasionally.
- Stir in the rice, pumpkin and sage leaves and cook for 2 minutes longer. Stir the saffron into the hot stock, then pour about one-quarter of the stock into the pan and stir well until it has almost all been absorbed, stirring frequently.
- Continue adding the stock, only a ladleful at a time, making sure each is almost completely absorbed before adding the next, and stirring frequently to produce a creamy texture.
- With the last addition of stock, add the corn and stir well. Once all the stock has been absorbed and the rice is tender (this will take about 20 minutes), stir in the mozzarella cheese.
- Season to taste, then cover the pot and allow to stand for about 5 minutes. Sprinkle the risotto with the pumpkin seeds and serve at once.
Cook's tip: The secret of a good risotto lies in using the right rice, arborio, carnaroli or vialonenano and a well-flavoured stock that should be added to the risotto gradually.
Variations: In summer you can replace the pumpkin with zucchini. Cut into small pieces and add to the risotto with the corn in step 4 as it does not need a long cooking time. For a greener version of this risotto, omit the saffron, sage and pumpkin and add 150 grams (5 oz) chopped spinach leaves and 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves with the corn in step 4.
Each serving: 20.5 g protein, 22 g fat of which 6 g saturates, 62.5 g carbohydrate, 4 g fibre, 420 Calories