Nov

9

3

Five Dollar Risotto (more affectionately called ‘Sweet Tomato And Lemon Risotto’) For A Cause!

Dan    Appetizers & Co., Recipes     calgary, charity, recipes, risotto, simple, uend.org, vegetarian

What you’ll need…

2 yellow onions (finely chopped)

1 cup cream

2 cups water

2 TBSP tomato paste

1 clove garlic (minced)

1 cup arborio rice (uncooked)

1 lemon (zest and juice)

2 TSP dried dill

1 pinch cayenne pepper

salt and pepper

olive oil

 

I know I already posted a risotto recipe a few weeks ago, but this recipe was for a special occasion. I’ll give you the ’coles notes’ version here, but a great, Calgary-based charity called UEnd:Poverty, asked me to write a guest post to help with their current campaign, U:Powered, where they’re looking for 5000 people to donate only $5/month to support the operational side of their charity. Check out the website here to see the goals they are striving for, it’s pretty amazing.

 

Keeping with the ‘$5′ portion of U:Powered, I decided to set out to make a five dollar dish. I was scared that all I could come up with would be pancakes, which, don’t get me wrong, are delicious on a Saturday morning, but I thought it would be better to strive for something more. Queue risotto, a flavourful dish that, made here for only five dollars, just goes to show that something good can come from something so little.

Place the chopped onions in a large pan, season with salt and pepper, drizzle with some olive oil and cook on medium-high heat until onions soften, about 5 minutes. Reduce to medium heat, letting onions continue to cook, stirring regularly, until they are caramelised, about 25 minutes (Note: If bits of onion begin to burn in the pan, just add in a splash of water and scrap the crisp bits off. Repeat as necessary). Once the onions are a nice golden colour, place half in a small pot with the water, cream and tomato paste. Bring to a summer.

Add the minced garlic, arborio rice and a bit of olive oil to the remaining onions in the large pan. Turn back to medium-high heat and let cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring often. When the broth begins to simmer, reduce to low heat to keep hot, but not bubbling. Ladle some broth into the pan with the rice mixture and stir until absorbed. Repeat until all of the broth from the pot has been absorbed. This should take about 20 minutes.

Finally, stir in remaining ingredients. Salt and pepper to taste.

Bam! Delicious, right?

Serves 2

Total cook time…55 min

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3 Comments to “Five Dollar Risotto (more affectionately called ‘Sweet Tomato And Lemon Risotto’) For A Cause!”

• 

  Barb Bamber November 9, 2011 at 10:31 pm

  This risotto sounds so delicious… and only 5 bucks, awesome! Love your charity idea… I’ll have to go check them out. Glad to connect with another “Calgarian” food blogger:)
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  David November 10, 2011 at 2:45 pm

  I LOVE risotto and have never tried to cook it myself. Everyone keeps telling me it’s so hard to make. Whatever. I’ll give it a go.

  Thanks again for supporting U:Powered and UEnd’s mission to make it ridiculously easy for people to help end extreme global poverty. You rock, Dan.

  David
• 

  Brad November 13, 2011 at 7:41 pm

  It is kind of crazy what you can get out of 5 dollars. Cool!