Missed the risotto

After our honeymoon we decided to avoid rice at all costs. In Mauritius every dish is accompanied by rice. It’s an alternative to the potatoes served as sides in the Mediterranean diet. No matter how much rice we ate I still missed the Italian risotto, more specifically the risotto prepared the way Gabriele Ferron taught us during his visit in Malta.

So, for lunch on Saturday I prepared the following recipe:

Risotto with yellow peppers

Ingredients for 4 persons:

• 320g carnaroli rice
• 700ml vegetable stock
• 2 yellow peppers
• 4 tomatoes
• 1 garlic clove
• 2 onions
• 60g chopped emmenthal cheese
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt & pepper

Wash the peppers, remove the seeds and cut into thin strips. Finely chop the onion and garlic clove. Remove the seeds from the tomatoes and cut into small chunks.

In a saucepan, pour some olive oil add the onion, garlic, peppers and tomatoes. Season with salt and leave to cook for about 30 minutes.

In a large casserole pour some olive oil, add the other finely chopped onion and when transparent add the rice. Toast the rice until heated through.

Add the boiling vegetable stock at one go, mix delicately and cover the casserole. Cook on a very low flame for around 12 minutes. Just before serving add the pepper mixture, a knob of butter and the cheese.