Eggplant and Zucchini risotto
Why I Love This Recipe
I love preparing risotto, and I often try new combinations. My husband's favourite one is with mushrooms, but he also loves eggplants, so he asks me often to cook them. I combined the two and here's the result...
Ingredients You'll Need
(for 2)
1 medium size eggplant
1 zucchini
4-5 cherry tomatoes
small onion
2 cloves of garlic
120-150 g rice
salt,
extra vergin olive oil
about 2 tablespoon of grated Parmiggiano Reggiano
1 teaspoon of butter
about 1 litre of vegetable broth
(for vegetable broth:
1 carrot
1 small potato
celery
onion)
Directions
Clean and cut the vegetables for broth, put everything in a pot and add about 1 litre of water. When it starts boiling, lower to meadium heat and cook for 40 -45 mins.
Dice the eggplant, sprinkle with salt and leave for about half an hour. Drain the liquid and dry the eggplant on several layers of kitchen paper. In this way eggplant will lose it's bitterness.
Heat 2 spoons of olive oil in a pot or wok, add finely chopped onion, stirring, and when it becomes golden, add zucchini (cut as you prefer it - diced, sliced) and whole cloves of garlic. Stir continuously for about 5 minutes, pay attention they don't burn. Then add eggplant (attention: it will immediately absorb all oil, so continue stirring everything). When you see the vegetables are getting soft, add tomatoes cut 4 or 8, depending how big they are. Add salt.
Remove garlic. Pour rice and stir everything well for 1-2 mins, and then pour some broth. Lower the heat and continue cooking, adding broth when necessary, liquid shoud arrive barely above the level of rice (risotto must not dry or it will stick to the bottom and burn).
Usually it takes 12 - 15 minutes for rice to cook, see the instructions on the box.
When rice is ready, add butter and Parmiggiano, let it cook for a 1 or 2 mins still, it will soon become creamy. Make sure it is not dry, if necessary, always add a bit more broth or warm water.
Serve it soon sprinkled with parsley and grated Parmiggiano.