Tomato and fennel risotto

Risotto is a meal in itself, for those craving a creamy textured meal. It is worth adding to your repertoire, although it may feel time consuming, when mastered you’ll never look back. This tomato and fennel risotto recipe is not only gluten and dairy-free, it’s only very delicious!

Serves: 4
Ingredients: 9
Serving size: 825 g
Total calories: 306
Protein: 14 g
Fat: 10 g
Carbohydrates: 55 g
Fibre: 11 g

Ingredients

  • 6 Roma tomatoes, slice lengthways, place on oven tray
  • 440 g canned tomatoes
  • 3 cups vegetable stock
  • 2 large brown onions, coarsely chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 3 baby fennel, sliced finely (around 1 cm)
  • 2 cups Italian arborio rice
  • ½ tsp rosemary, dried
  • 2 tbsp olive oil for stir frying and roasting

Method

  1. Drizzle olive oil over tomatoes, sprinkle with rosemary, cracked pepper and some sea salt.
  2. Place in a moderate oven and roast until golden brown.
  3. In a heavy based saucepan, add two tablespoons of oil, and eat.
  4. When hot, add onions and garlic and stir fry for 2 minutes.
  5. Add the arborio rice and stir fry until clear, add the fennel and stir.
  6. Add tinned tomatoes and stir into mixture and simmer.
  7. Put the stock into a jug and slowly add it to the mixture while stirring. Continue adding stock and stir until all the liquid is absorbed and the rice is soft and the risotto is creamy in texture (if you need more liquid use some extra vegetable stock).
  8. Season with pepper and sea salt.
  9. Serve on a plate with the roasted Roma tomatoes piled on top.