Cheap Recipe – Olive Risotto
This is a great recipe for the winter months ahead (in the southern hemisphere, anyway!). All the ingredients can be easily obtained from the supermarket, keeping your costs down considerably. This risotto is particularly enjoyable with a warm side dish or two. It serves four as a main course when served with sides.
Ingredients:
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 small brown onion, finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- 200g risotto rice
- 600ml vegetable or chicken stock, simmering
- 400g can peeled tomatoes, chopped (you can buy diced ones too)
- 1 1/2 tbsp olive tapenade
- 100g tiny black olives, pips removed
- 4 sprigs basil, leaves shredded
- 50ml dry white wine
- 30g unsalted butter or butter substitute (eg. nuttex or margarine)
- 75g parmesan, finely grated
- Black pepper (freshly ground tastes best)
Heat oil in a sturdy pot over medium heat; add onion and garlic and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
Add rice and stir with a wooden spatula until all the grains are coated with oil. Cook for a few minutes. Have the stock ready and simmering gently. Using a ladle, add enough stock to come almost to the top of the rice, but don’t drown it.
Stir until the stock evaporates. Continue adding stock little by little as needed, stirring most of the time. After 15 minutes, add tomatoes, tapenade, olives and basil. Continue stirring and adding stock. At 20 minutes, taste rice to check if al dente (still a little firm).
When al dente, remove from the heat, add the cold wine, stir and add the butter and half the parmesan. Season to taste. Cover tightly and leave to fluff up for 2-5 minutes.
Serve at once on hot plates, sharing the rest of the parmesan at the table.
Budget tips for this recipe: Macadamia oil, whilst more expensive than olive oil is better for you (has been proven to lower cholesterol, and is happily heated for long periods). You can substitute both the olive oil and the butter in this recipe for macadamia oil if you wish. The black olives are cheapest when bought in a jar at the supermarket and not from the deli counter. Use bin-end or cleanskin wine to keep the cost of this down. The very cheapest way to get stock is to make your own, but it’s very time consuming! For health reasons, I use and recommend Gravox liquid stock, but stock cubes work too.
Bon appetite!
