This risotto is ridiculously easy to make!

For those who like to make risotto the 'old fashioned way', you are going to love the simplicity of this beautiful risotto. 

This dish is good for dairy and gluten intolerance as it is free from those foods.  The flavours and different textures are insanely good - squishy pumpkin, peas that pop and pine nuts that crunch and the saffron....mmmmm. 

Plus there is no ladling of stock bit by bit, it's a quick process that still turns out fantastically!

Ingredients

1 cup arborio or short grain brown rice (short grain rice is starchier, which is what you need for a good creamy risotto)

1 litre of chicken stock, home made is best, for a good recipe from Whole Foodie Kitchen, go here.  

500 grams of organic or free range chicken thighs (diced)

1/4 pumpkin (diced)

1/2 cup of peas (frozen or fresh) 

1/4 cup of pine nuts

1 brown onion (diced)

2 cloves of garlic (crushed)

1 pinch of saffron threads

1/2 cup of dry white wine or use more chicken stock here

coconut oil for cooking

Himalayan salt and ground pepper to taste

 

Method

Pop the diced pumpkin into a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees with a drizzle of coconut oil and bake until a little bit crisp and brown. Don't overdo it as it will be too mushy in the final dish.

In your pot on the stove, heat enough coconut oil to cover bottom of pot and add the diced chicken. Brown until just cooked, remove and set aside.

Add a bit more coconut oil in the pot to cover bottom again and add in the onions and sauté until transparent.

Add the rice, stir for about a minute.

Add the wine or stock to deglaze the rice and onion and stir until evaporated.

Add the whole litre of stock at once, as well as your pinch of saffron and turn down to a low medium, so it's still bubbling but not too furiously.

Stir once in a while!

When you see that about 2/3 of the liquid is gone, add cooked chicken, peas (straight from freezer or fresh), baked pumpkin and stir gently.

Pop your pine nuts in the baking tray you used for pumpkin and give a quick bake and then pop them in also.

Add your crushed garlic after it's been sitting there crushed or chopped for ten minutes before it's added to the heat.

This means it retains the anti-bacterial, anti-viral, immune boosting properties of the allicin (active phytochemical of the garlic)

Add salt and pepper to taste.

All liquid should now be absorbed and you can take off heat, give final stir and pop a lid on to let it rest for 5 minutes.

Of course, you can leave the chicken out for a vegan version and I have also substituted peas for spinach before, but I must say I enjoy the pop of the peas.

This dish is as much about texture as it is about the flavour!

Do you have a favourite risotto ingredient combination?  

Tell me your fave risotto recipe? Bon Appetit!

 

Yours in health,

Alisha x

This risotto is ridiculously easy to make!

For those who like to make risotto the 'old fashioned way', you are going to love the simplicity of this beautiful risotto. 

This dish is good for dairy and gluten intolerance as it is free from those foods.  The flavours and different textures are insanely good - squishy pumpkin, peas that pop and pine nuts that crunch and the saffron....mmmmm. 

Plus there is no ladling of stock bit by bit, it's a quick process that still turns out fantastically!

Ingredients

1 cup arborio or short grain brown rice (short grain rice is starchier, which is what you need for a good creamy risotto)

1 litre of chicken stock, home made is best, for a good recipe from Whole Foodie Kitchen, go here.  

500 grams of organic or free range chicken thighs (diced)

1/4 pumpkin (diced)

1/2 cup of peas (frozen or fresh) 

1/4 cup of pine nuts

1 brown onion (diced)

2 cloves of garlic (crushed)

1 pinch of saffron threads

1/2 cup of dry white wine or use more chicken stock here

coconut oil for cooking

Himalayan salt and ground pepper to taste

 

Method

Pop the diced pumpkin into a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees with a drizzle of coconut oil and bake until a little bit crisp and brown. Don't overdo it as it will be too mushy in the final dish.

In your pot on the stove, heat enough coconut oil to cover bottom of pot and add the diced chicken. Brown until just cooked, remove and set aside.

Add a bit more coconut oil in the pot to cover bottom again and add in the onions and sauté until transparent.

Add the rice, stir for about a minute.

Add the wine or stock to deglaze the rice and onion and stir until evaporated.

Add the whole litre of stock at once, as well as your pinch of saffron and turn down to a low medium, so it's still bubbling but not too furiously.

Stir once in a while!

When you see that about 2/3 of the liquid is gone, add cooked chicken, peas (straight from freezer or fresh), baked pumpkin and stir gently.

Pop your pine nuts in the baking tray you used for pumpkin and give a quick bake and then pop them in also.

Add your crushed garlic after it's been sitting there crushed or chopped for ten minutes before it's added to the heat.

This means it retains the anti-bacterial, anti-viral, immune boosting properties of the allicin (active phytochemical of the garlic)

Add salt and pepper to taste.

All liquid should now be absorbed and you can take off heat, give final stir and pop a lid on to let it rest for 5 minutes.

Of course, you can leave the chicken out for a vegan version and I have also substituted peas for spinach before, but I must say I enjoy the pop of the peas.

This dish is as much about texture as it is about the flavour!

Do you have a favourite risotto ingredient combination?  

Tell me your fave risotto recipe? Bon Appetit!

 

Yours in health,

Alisha x