Beetroot & Goats Cheese Risotto

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1tbsp. olive oil

knob butter

1 white onion, peeled and diced

3 garlic cloves, crushed

150ml white wine

250g arborio rice

1.2L stock

300g cooked beetroot

120g goats cheese, chopped

100g rocket

2tbsp. fresh herbs (thyme, parsley, dill)

handful pine nuts, toasted

Method:

1). Firstly, finely dice the onion. Heat the oil and a knob of butter in a saucepan over a low-medium heat. Add the onion and sweat with a lid on for 10 mins - stir once. Then add the garlic, rice and white wine. Stir for 5 minutes.

2). Puree the beetroot. I use a blender but if you do not have one you can use a grater (just beware of the purple fingers).

3). Put the stock into a small saucepan and heat, then keep on a low heat to keep it hot - this helps speed up the cooking process rather than adding cooler stock to the hot rice. Start adding the hot stock a ladleful at a time to the rice - making sure the liquid is fully absorbed before adding more. This should take approximately 25 minutes but you can test some grains of rice - it should be 'al dente' = firm but cooked through.

4). When you are adding the last ladle of stock, stir in the beetroot puree. The liquid should be almost absorbed with the risotto holding a creamy consistency - you want to avoid over reducing the liquid too much that the risotto becomes stoggy.

5). Then stir in the roughly chopped goats cheese and rocket.

6). Spoon onto plates and scatter with some rocket leaves and toasted pine nuts.

7). Enjoy!

Nutritional Composition (per serving):

Energy (kcal): 525

Fat (g): 22

Saturates (g): 8.4

Carbohydrates (g): 57

Sugars (g): 7.6

Protein (g): 15

The Sports Chef