We’re hooked on risottos. They start with simple ingredients and turn them into a meal that’s entirely more magical than the individual parts. This week we’re sharing the recipe for one of our favorites. This Citrus Risotto is a brighter summertime version of a classic risotto with a generous squeeze of lemon juice and a pinch of Chai spice. The result is a sunny meal perfect any night of the week.
One note: You’ll see this recipe calls for just a smidge of fennel. Try cutting your leftover fennel into strips and roasting it. It’s a great addition to a salad, sandwich or pasta. Whatever you do, don’t skip it. It’s our secret ingredient and adds a wonderful flavor that the recipe would miss without it.
Ingredients
olive oil
4 ½ cups vegetable broth
3 ½ cups sweet potatoes
1/3 cup lemon juice
¼ cup fennel, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 ½ Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp dried oregano
½ tsp chai spice
¾ cup onions, chopped
1 cup arborio rice
¾ cup white wine
2/3 cup blue cheese (not a fan? Parmesan, feta or mozzarella would all work, too)
Putting It All Together
Preheat your oven to 425 and heat 4 ¼ cups of vegetable broth in a saucepan.
Put the sweet potatoes on a rimmed baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper and toss well. Cook for 15 minutes then remove from the oven.
While the sweet potatoes are roasting, make the lemon chai sauce. Put the lemon juice, fennel, garlic, brown sugar, oregano, chai spice and ½ cup olive oil in a food processor or blender and puree. When the potatoes come out of the oven, drizzle half of the sauce over top. Mix well, then return to the oven. Cook until the potatoes are golden brown, about 5 to 7 minutes.
After you make the lemon chai sauce, start the risotto. Heat ½ Tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until they are translucent, about 3 to 5 minutes.
Add the arborio rice to the onions, cook for a minute, and then add the white wine. Cook until the liquid is absorbed. Now add about ½ cup of your simmering vegetable stock to the rice and stir. Let it cook 3 to 5 minutes, until the water is below the level of the rice. Add another ½ cup and repeat until you’ve used up most or all of the water and the rice is nice and creamy – about 20 minutes.
Mix in the roasted sweet potatoes and blue cheese. Give it a taste and add more chai sauce if you’d like.
That’s it. Enjoy!
Serves: 2
(If you cook with Meez regularly, you’ll see that we call for vegetable stock in this recipe but use plain water in our Meez deliveries. That’s because we include concentrated vegetable stock with the wine when we deliver these meals, making the meal kit more compact but delivering the same great flavor.)
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