I love risotto, as I mention in my post for Butternut Squash risotto, and a combination of an intriguing recipe for Beetroot risotto from Raymond Blanc and some huge home grown risotto ready to pick it seemed like a good excuse to try another variation.
I started the evening before, making the purest, dark purple beetroot juice by boiling two large beets (about 200g) for half an hour in salted water on a low boil to draw out the juice. I then blended the cooking water with another 100g chopped beetroot and pressed the result through a fine sieve to end up with about 300ml juice to use the next day as stock.
Next up was chopping the now cool cooked beetroot into a small dice and glazing in a pan with some butter, salt, pepper and a good glug of reduced balsamic vinegar. Once shiny and glazed the beetroot cubes could be put in the fridge along with the juice until the next day.
I spent the next day looking forward to my dinner more than usual, pleased with the prep I’d done the night before and knowing it should be a quick job to finish it off when I got home.
To cook the risotto, I softened a shallot in butter for a few minutes whilst reducing 75ml red wine by a third – the rest was for drinking. Adding 2 tbsp red wine vinegar and reducing until nearly completely absorbed and sticky I stirred 125g arborio rice in with the buttery shallots and then adding all but a tiny bit of the beetroot juice, the red wine. I followed Raymond’s tip on this, adding all the liquid at once and simmering as low as possible for 20 minutes whilst I made a Parmesan crisp by grating Parmesan into circles on a baking tray and then cooking in the oven at 220 for 5 or 6 minutes.
Once the 20 were up the tip is to stir vigorously to finish the cooking process until the rice is al dente. I grated in some Parmesan, added the glazed beetroot and reserved juice to finish and gave it 30 seconds to warm through, seasoned with salt, pepper and parsley and served.
Even though I loved cooking this dish, I was surprised how much I enjoyed eating it too. The earthiness of the beetroot juice but the sweet glazed cubes of beetroot were a perfect complement, and even a carnivore like me didn’t miss the meat from a dish like this. The parmesan crisp might seem excessive but actually the saltiness offset everything else brilliantly and gave a nice change of texture. It goes without saying that the colour is fantastic, just see the picture for an idea – it really is that red!
The work preparing the juice takes some time, but otherwise it’s an easy meal and quick to finish off the day after you’ve done the hard part. I even reckon you could freeze the juice to use later in the season when you’ve used up all the fresh stuff. Give it a try, I’m sure you’ll love it.