Carrot Risotto

The other week, my husband and I went out to dinner and I had the most wonderful carrot risotto. I decided to try making my own at home and made this recipe the other night for dinner. It was my first time making risotto and my husband and I LOVED it!

You will need the following ingredients:

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 cups of carrots, peeled and chopped in food processor
1/2 tsp. salt
1 teaspoon sugar
5 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth (or vegetable broth if going vegetarian)
1/2 small onion, minced
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup mascarpone cheese
1/4 cup freshly shredded parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon chopped Italian parsley
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
Salt & Pepper to taste

To start, melt 1 tbsp. oil and 1 tbsp. butter over medium heat in large pan.

Chop carrots to be very small and uniform in size. I used a food processor. Don't puree them.

Add carrots to pan with oil and stir with a wooden spoon until well coated.

Add 1/2 cup water, 1/2 tsp. salt, and the sugar. Cover and cook until tender, about 5-8 minutes.

Once tender, uncover and cook until all water evaporates. Separate carrots, put half in a bowl

and the other half in a blender with 3/4 cup of hot water. Purée in blender till smooth.

Heat remaining oil and butter in same pan used for carrots.

Add chopped onion.

Cook onion until translucent, about 3-4 minutes.

While the onion is cooking, in a separate pan, bring your broth to a boil.

Once onion is cooked, add the rice and coat with the oil. Cook for 1 minute. (When making risotto, cooking the rice in oil before adding liquid helps the rice to absorb the liquids slowly with becoming soggy. This is called "Toasting the Rice.")

After rice is browned, add in 1/2 cup white wine to deglaze the pan. 

And if you can drink alcohol. Pour yourself a glass of wine and sip while cooking the rest of the meal. (I am pregnant, so my photographer husband enjoyed the wine while I cooked.)

Once the wine evaporates, add the carrot purée.

Stir rice and  purée together and cook until mixture is thick.

Now it's time for the broth, ladle up 1/2 cup hot broth.

Pour broth in your rice/carrot mixture. 

Stir until rice absorbs most of the liquid. 

Repeat process, adding 1/2 cup broth each time and stirring often till until the rice absorbs the liquid. You WILL NOT use all the broth. Keep adding the broth only until the rice tastes cooked. (Adding too much broth at the end can result in overcooked risotto. Keep the broth simmering slowly while you add it to the rice. This helps maintain a constant cooking temperature.)

Once the rice is cooked, add in carrots, parsley, thyme, & pepper. Do not over stir. 

Fold in mascarpone and parmesan cheese. Add salt to taste. 

Serve the carrot rissotto garnished with parmesan, parsley, and thyme. Serve with a nice glass of dry white wine and some crusty bread on the side.

Enjoy!

The Skinny: Serves 6 @ 375 calories each

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