Zucchini Risotto

 

Every spring I wish I had the opportunity to tend to a garden. I look at seed catalogues, online and offline, together with my mother. I might even order something even though I do.not.have.space. Craaazy, I tell you. Then I visit my parents, frequently, just to get my hands dirty. I talk to the tomato seedlings, to get them to grow nice and quickly. I try to sneek in one or two plants I personally would like to grow, this year's butternut squash is performing nicely, there are already dozens of little squashs visible and growing. 

One advantage of not having a garden myself is a) I don't have to be home and water almost daily, and b) I am not flooded by zucchini. 

I do love zucchini, though, and I have been preparing quite a few things using a zucchini or two. This risotto is a double zucchini risotto (double chocolate sounds better, but we'll leave it at zucchini this time). One zucchini is grated into the risotto, to make for a bit a lighter risotto. The other zucchini is diced, panfried and scattered over the creamy risotto.

Zucchini Risotto

Note: If you have never made risotto before, and are scared, dont be. I've read that people were scared of making risotto on blogs so many times, when really it is quite easy to make. Key to a good risotto is adding water/stock slowly, waiting with the next ladle until the first has been soaked up or evaporated. Then also stir often, since you dont add much water at a time, it can burn easily if left unattended. If that is too much fuss for you, you can also just add the wine and water in the beginning, stir, and cook covered on low heat for 15-20 minutes until the water is absorbed. This method will result in a less creamy risotto, though.  

1 medium zucchini, grated

1 onion, chopped

1 tsp dried thyme

200g risotto rice

1 tbsp olive oil

1 dl white wine

4-5 dl vegetable stock

30g parmesan cheese, grated

1 medium zucchini, cut into cubes

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

salt

In a pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and the thyme, and sauté until the onion is soft, then add the rice. Sauté for another minute or two, until the rice starts to look translucent. Add in the grated zucchini, stir. Then add the white wine, stirring as you let it cook and evaporate. Keep stirring, and adding water slowly, to make a creamy risotto.When the rice is done, remove from heat, stir in the cheese (and maybe a knob of butter, if you like) and let rest for 2-3 minutes.

While you continue stirring the risotto, heat the second tbsp of olive oil in a skillet. Throw in the zucchini cubes, add a pinch or two of salt and pan fry them until golden brown. At this stage, I removed half of the zucchini cubes, then added the balsamic vinegar, gave the skillet a quick whirl, let the balsamic vinegar evaporate and then turned the heat off. Set the cubes aside.

To serve, spoon the risotto onto two plates, and scatter the zucchini cubes over the risotto.

Serves 2.