Yes, you read that right. A risotto with brussels sprouts. A rich, blue cheesy, creamy risotto packed with those little green globes of gorgeousness. You might guess that I love a sprout – and if you’re also a fan, I promise you too will love this. However, if sprouts make you feel a bit on the gippy side, I’d recommend avoiding this recipe…
This is a dish, recommended by a friend on Twitter, and adapted from a Yotam Ottolenghi recipe, in his Plenty More book. It’s the kind of dish that takes a while to prepare and cook – as with all good risotto recipes – but it’s the perfect kind of recipe to follow (loosely in our case), whilst chatting over a glass of wine or two. So, what do you need? Nothing that you probably wouldn’t have anyway – and if you do love sprouts, then surely you’ve always got a stash of them…
what you’ll need
- brussels sprouts – we used a normal supermarket bag of sprouts and cut about two thirds into quarters and then finely shredded the rest
- finely chopped white onion
- a couple of finely chopped garlic cloves
- arborio rice – we used 200g and this was more than enough for two people
- a couple of lemons – one squeezed, one zested
- crumbled Gorgonzola cheese (about three quarters of a normal sized pack was used)
- grated Parmesan cheese (no idea how much we used here as we can never get enough of this cheese, so just adjust to your own taste)
- olive oil & a knob of unsalted butter
- vegetable stock (we just kept topping up as we thought necessary)
- white wine (as above – judge according to your own taste)
- salt & pepper to season
- sprig of fresh thyme
The Ottolenghi recipe is quite involved and a bit more faffy than we wanted, but if you know how to make a risotto to your own taste, then just adapt it. It’s what we did, and our method seemed a lot less involved, but hey, we’re not professionals.
what you’ll need to do
- Put the quartered sprouts in a roasting dish – if you line them up, rather than just chucking them in, they roast more evenly – and season with salt & pepper and splash with enough olive oil, so they roast rather than burn. Roast for about 20 mins (about 200 degrees), turning after about 10 minutes until the edges are nicely caramelised
- While the sprouts are roasting, heat the olive oil and butter in a large heavy bottomed pan and gently sauté the onions for about 10 minutes until soft and beginning to colour.
- Add the garlic, thyme and and lemon zest strips and cook for another 2 -3 minutes
- Next, gradually add the rice and shredded brussels sprouts to the pan and stir to coat every grain with olive oil mixture. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring, until the rice becomes translucent on the edges with a solid white center
- Add the white wine (about a glass of wine at this stage) stirring until it is almost absorbed. Then begin adding the stock gradually, and stirring gently all the time. At this stage, we also topped up with white wine, to suit our taste and to ensure that there was sufficient liquid to cook the rice. The exact amount of stock required to finish the risotto varies slightly, so go by the results. If the rice has a starchy crunch it is not done yet. The finished risotto should be creamy in texture.
- When the risotto is done, to your taste, stir in parmesan cheese and half the roasted brussels sprouts & season according to your taste. Serve in individual bowls topped with the remaining brussels sprouts, crumbled gorgonzola cheese, lemon zest and lemon juice.
