Risotto for the weekend
Plus, my interview with Real Simple! 🌞
Happy Friday. I continue my week of unfussy meals with this pesto risotto. It’s fantastic served as-is or with Italian-seasoned grilled or seared chicken on the side.
Before I launch into the recipe, I wanted to tell you I did a little interview with Real Simple on my favorite tips for meal prepping! If you’re new to my newsletter, you may not know that I’ve authored three cookbooks (Weekly Meal Plan, Weekly Vegan Meal Plan, and Plant-Based 5-Ingredient Cookbook). I was thrilled to contribute things I learned from my meal plan cookbooks to this article.
Now it’s time to talk risotto.
What’s your experience with risotto? Do you find it intimidating? I used to until I realized that it doesn’t require as much babysitting as I initially thought. Yes, you want to stir regularly, but you also want to give the rice a little undisturbed time to absorb and break down in the liquid.
I like to add the liquid and stir it well, but then let it sit and bubble for a few minutes before stirring again. For each incorporation, I give the risotto a few moments of undisturbed bubbling. As you watch it, you’ll see the liquid in the pot thicken and take on a cloudy color as the starches in the rice cook down.
You can certainly make your own basil pesto for this, but for a quick dinner, store-bought works perfectly in a pinch. I use Barilla’s basil pesto, and it was divine.
Pesto Risotto
Serves: 4 | Cook time: 40 minutes
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion, peeled and diced
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup carnaroli or arborio rice
5–6 cups chicken stock, warmed over the stove or in the microwave
¼ cup pesto
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan, plus more for serving
½ lemon, juiced
Fresh basil leaves, for serving
Salt and pepper to taste
Cook the onion and garlic:
Heat the extra virgin olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 7–8 minutes until softened and translucent.
Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute until fragrant.
Toast the rice:
Melt the butter into the aromatics. Once bubbly, add the carnaroli rice and season well with salt. Toast for 2–3 minutes.
Cook the risotto:
Add 1 ladleful of the warm stock and stir to incorporate. Bring to a low boil for 1–2 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the liquid absorbs into the rice.
Continue adding the stock in ladlefuls, alternating stirring and adding liquid and only adding more liquid as the rice absorbs the liquid in the pot. Continue for 18–20 minutes until the rice is tender.
Reduce the heat to low and stir in the pesto. Cook for 2–3 minutes, stirring to incorporate the pesto into the risotto.
Turn off the heat and stir in the Parmesan cheese and lemon juice. Taste and season. Let stand for 5 minutes.
To serve:
Divide the pesto between bowls. Garnish with more Parmesan cheese and fresh basil leaves. Enjoy!
Download the print-friendly PDF with nutritional information:
Looking for more risotto recipes? Here are a few of my favorites:
Next week, I’ll be working on June’s meal plan (it’s going to be a good one), and I’m having my wisdom tooth removed, so you won’t hear from me quite as much, but I’ll be back with some new recipes after my Jell-O hiatus comes to an end :)
-kylie