MaryLee's Healthy Food and Easy Cooking - Chicken, Vegetable Risotto

Hello again,

When you think Italian food most tend to think pasta or pizza but not many really think rice. Rice dishes many tend to think Indian or Chinese and you have to use a wok or balti pan to cook these dishes and not everyone has these, so don’t try making them.

Or you think long grain rice or white rice, these have no flavour so only use to put a curry or a chilli over.

But there are so many different types of rice to try and so many ways you can use rice and the dishes are so flavoursome, it’s a shame not to try them.

As I said earlier I would give you some more Risotto recipes. Here is one I hope you will enjoy.

Chicken, Vegetable Risotto

2 tbsp (tablespoon) light oil
1 medium onion chopped
2 clove garlic chopped
1 cup Arborio or Risotto or Carnaroli rice
2 large or 4 small chicken breast cubed into bit size pieces
2 ½ cup chicken stock
1 red bell pepper chopped or sliced
1 yellow bell pepper chopped or sliced
Good handful green beans chopped or cut in half depending on length
Good handful yellow beans same
1 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley
½ cup parmesan cheese grated (optional)

In saucepan heat oil over medium low heat, add onions and garlic cook until softened, add rice and stir until evenly coated. Add chicken cook for about 5 minutes. If sticking during this cooking add ½ cup of stock and continue to stir. Once stock has absorbed add another ½ cup and continue doing so until rice becomes tender but not soft about 10 minutes.

Add the peppers and beans and continue to cook another 10 minutes.

Add chopped parsley and the cheese if you are using it, remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

You can use asparagus or sugar snap, mange tout or snow peas rather than beans and peppers, depending on your likes.

It depends on my mood or how I want to present the dish, whether or not I chop or leave the beans, and peppers in strips.