Low-Fat Risotto with Parmesan and Peas

I used to always cook risotto out of a box.  Shocking, I know 🙂 I loved the taste but had always heard that it was hard to make.  Last year, when we had some friends over for dinner, I decided to tackle my fears and found that, though it is time consuming, making risotto from scratch is actually very simple!

While that original recipe was easy to create, it wasn’t exactly a healthy meal; using a half of a cup of butter and a load of cheese, I knew that this couldn’t be a regular meal for our family.  Bummer.

So, I did some experimenting and found that by using olive oil and just a small amount of parmesan, I could still achieve a very tasty dish.  Which is good, as Myles LOVES this and we literally eat it every single week.

Meat it up with a grilled chicken breast on top; or veg it out with some sautéed mushrooms or spinach.

Low-Fat Risotto with Parmesan and Peas

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, minced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 cup risotto rice

1 veggie stock cube

3-4 cups of boiled water

1/2 cup frozen peas

1/4 cup parmesan

salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

juice of 1 lemon, optional

Method:

1. Heat olive oil in a large sauce pan over medium high heat.

2. Add onion, garlic and risotto rice and cook, stirring frequently, until the onion is soft. (not brown!)

3. Meanwhile, boil water in a kettle.  Keep handy.

4. Add stock cube and 1 1/2 cups of boiled water, stirring constantly.

5. Once water is absorbed, add another 1/2 cup and continue to stir constantly; repeat until rice is cooked al dente. (approximately 15-20 minutes) and water is absorbed.

6. Add peas and cook for another 3 minutes, stirring constantly.

7. Add parmesan; season with salt and pepper and lemon, if desired.