Sunny risotto with carrots

Method
Prep:15min  ›  Cook:35min  ›  Ready in:50min 

1. Heat the oil in a medium nonstick saucepan over moderate heat. Add the onion and sauté for about 5 minutes or until tender. Add the carrots and sauté for a further 4 minutes or until just tender. Add the rice, stirring to coat.
2. Add the wine and cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes or until it has evaporated by half.
3. Mix together the stock, carrot juice and water. Add the stock mixture, a ladleful at a time, to the rice and cook, stirring. Wait until each addition of liquid has been absorbed before adding the next. Total cooking time will be about 20 minutes. Remove from heat, then stir in the Parmesan cheese and pepper.

Parmesan cheese

Parmesan cheese is not truly vegetarian, as it contains animal rennet. To make this dish 100% vegetarian, omit the cheese or find a suitable vegetarian substitute made without animal rennet. In supermarkets look for the 'parmesan style hard cheeses' which are suitable for vegetarians.

Some more ideas

*For a deeper colour and a more Spanish flavour, add a pinch of saffron threads to the stock mixture in step 3.
*This is a good dish to make when you have friends or family in the kitchen with you. You can have one of them do the stirring for you!

Health points

*The beta-carotene in carrots that is so good for vision is equally important for healthy skin and hair. 140g (5oz) of cooked carrots provides three times the recommended daily intake of beta-carotene.
*Carrots were known to the Greeks and Romans, although they were not widely used in Europe until the Middle Ages. Early varieties were red, purple or black; the familiar orange variety was developed in Holland in the 17th century.