I’ve enjoyed cooking for a long time, but since I started blogging about it I’ve been experimenting and trying new things much more often than before. One of the big drivers of this is that other bloggers inspire me. One of the blogs that I get a lot of inspiration from is 35aweek.com. She posts a lot of things that sound and look delicious that I’ve never cooked before. One of those dishes was Roasted carrot & thyme risotto. Carrots are one of those vegetables that are healthy, cheap, and readily available, but can be a bit boring. So I liked the idea of using it for risotto, also because it was listed as a substitute for pumpkin. I’ve made pumpkin risotto before, but pumpkin is often a bit bland, more expensive and more work. Here’s my version.

Ingredients

For 2 servings

450 grams (1 pound) carrots

130 grams (2/3 cup) risotto rice such as arborio

500 ml (2 cups) home-made vegetable stock or home-made chicken stock

1 glass (100 ml) dry white wine

1 Tbsp olive oil

3 Tbsp butter

salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves

1 small onion, minced

4 Tbsp freshly grated parmigiano

Preparation

Preheat oven to 225C/425F. Peel the carrots and cut into chunk. Toss in a baking dish with olive oil, salt, freshly ground pepper, and 1 Tbsp thyme.

Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes until tender.

When the carrots need about 20 more minutes, heat 2 Tbsp butter in a frying pan and sauté the onion until translucent.

Heat the stock and keep it simmering but not boiling.

Add the rice and toast for a few minutes until the edges of the rice become translucent.

Add the wine and stir until most of it has evaporated.

Add a ladle of stock and adjust the heat such that the rice is boiling gently. Stir until most of the stock has been absorbed.

Keep adding stock, one ladle at a time, and keep stirring until the rice is almost al dente, about 15 minutes.

The carrots should now be done.

Puree the carrots.

Add the carrots to the risotto and stir, cook for a minute longer.

Taste the rice for doneness and adjust seasoning with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Take the risotto of the heat. Add 2 Tbsp freshly grated parmigiano, the remaining 1 Tbsp butter and the remaining 1 Tbsp thyme. Stir to mix.

Serve on warm plates, sprinkled with additional freshly grated parmigiano.