Wintry root vegetable risotto with red beans

November 12, 2016 at 11:35 pm (B plus (3.5 stars, like a lot), Beans, Fall recipes, Grains, Peter Berley, Uncategorized, Winter recipes)

A friend served us this recipe from Peter Berley’s cookbook The Modern Vegetarian Kitchen, and both Derek and I really liked it. Shredded carrots and parsnips add a bit of sweetness, turnips add a slightly funky note, while the beans add an earthy, hearty feel. Ginger and tomato paste add even more flavor. The original recipe also calls for burdock, but we can’t get it here, so we left it out. I’m sure it would make the dish truly stellar.

We made a double recipe tonight, in my 6-quart dutch oven. Below is the ingredient list doubled, with some notes on what we altered and what I’d do differently next time:

Ingredients:

• 10 cups vegetable broth
• 2 cups finely chopped onion
• 4 Tbsp. olive oil (we used 3, next time I’d use only 1 for the onion, and 1 more for the veggies)
• 2 tsp. coarse sea salt (we used 1.25 tsp. fine salt, I’d use 1.5 tsp. next time)
• 1 cup shredded burdock (we omitted this)
• 1 cup peeled and shredded parsnip (we used 2 cups, next time I’d use 3 cups)
• 1 cup peeled and shredded carrot (next time I’d use 1.5 cups)
• 1 cup peeled and shredded turnips (next time I’d use 1.5 cups)
• 2 cups arborio rice
• 4 tsp. peeled and minced ginger
• 2 tsp. minced garlic
• 2 cups cooked kidney beans (next time I’d use 4 cups)
• 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter (we used 2 Tbsp.)
• freshly milled black pepper
• chopped fresh parsley for garnish

My notes:

Derek said it was “pretty good”, then had thirds. I liked it a lot, as before. Alma hasn’t tried it yet, as it took too long to make and it wasn’t ready until after she was in bed.