Recipe: Lemon, Beetroot risotto with walnuts and thyme.

One other favourites from the risotto family, this time with beetroot! I can`t describe how much I love it, it just tastes cool and loving the funky purple colour! The base of the recipe and the idea comes from Sydney`s Fyrefly tapas bar where I used to be an apprentice a few years ago.  I fell in love with the dish straight away, I never thought beetroot can taste so nice. I wasn`t really a big fan of the veg, but now it`s in my top 10 favourite ingredients. Since, I experimented with it a bit more,at the restaurant we served it with scallops,but  I wanted to add some ingredients, so it can be a nice individual meal, or starter. As much as I liked it, it was still a bit boring on it`s own. From all the searching, lemon was a surprisingly good taste with it, and walnuts are always a great companion to beetroot. The recipe is incredibly easy, and can be done in no time! And its an amazing treat for a romantic dinner!

Ingredients

150g Arborio rise

1 shallot brunoise

1cup white, rose or red wine, DRY!

2 spoons of butter

3 cloves of garlic

approx. 3 cups of veg stock

2 medium big beetroot, cleaned, peeled, greated

zest and juice of 1 lemon

handful of chopped, toasted walnuts

salt, white pepper

fresh thyme

Make a simple risotto base, in a medium saucepan. Melting the butter, adding the shallots first, then garlic, arborio rise. Add the wine, stir a little, until the onions cover the rise, before you start adding the stock. Reduce heat, and start adding the stock only a little at time, wait till liquid is reduced, and add more. Repeat untill rice is almost cooked. It`s ready when the middle is still a bit crunchy.

Add the beetroot, give a little bit of time for it to cook. Add rest of the ingredients, mix well, season.

Serve with fresh parmesan cheese, and some garlic butter bread. It is a perfect companion to seafood.

Enjoy!