Purple Risotto

Today requires comfort food. It’s cold and miserable outside. And I’m not feeling too great, either.

I was really hankering after a nice slow-cooked stew, but I didn’t have the ingredients to hand. I started to look a bit aimlessly through Annabel Langbein’s Simple Pleasures for inspiration, and came across her recipe for Saffron Spinach Risotto. Strictly speaking, I didn’t have the ingredients for this, either — in particular, no Arborio (or other short-grained) rice. And no spinach. But I did have a few things that weren’t included in the recipe, such as some purple long-grained Thai rice. And some mushrooms. Plus some kale and a round red chilli from my garden. Also, there was about 1/3 of a bottle of red wine left over from earlier in the week, and since the rice was (half) purple anyway…

I was pleasantly surprised by how well this turned out. It definitely satisfied the need for comfort food, but it also looked restaurant-fancy. I can easily see myself making this again.

PURPLE RISOTTO
Makes 2 generous or 3 moderate servings

Ingredients

From my Garden

• A handful of Tuscan kale, chopped
• 1 round red chilli pepper, finely chopped with seeds removed

Australian

• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• salt
• 2 cups (500mL) home made vegetable stock
• 1 small red onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed or finely chopped
• 5 medium-sized button mushrooms, chopped (I like to halve and then slice them)
• Approx 150mL red wine (I used Boy Meets Girl cabernet merlot, available from Naked Wines Australia, which enables crowd-funding for small wine producers)

Imported

• 1/2 cup Thai Sticky Purple Rice
• 3-4 strands saffron
• Ground black pepper

Method

Add canola oil and chopped red onion to a medium saucepan (I used 20cm), and fry on a low-medium heat until onions start to soften. Add chilli and garlic, and stir for a minute before adding the mushrooms. When mushrooms have started to soften, add rice and stir for a minute, before adding just enough red wine to cover everything. Allow to reduce, stirring regularly, until the rice has absorbed most of the liquid, then add the vegetable stock, saffron, and salt and pepper (to taste). Top up with 1 cup (250mL) water, again, allow to reduce. When most of the excess liquid has evaporated/been absorbed, add the chopped kale. Then, once the risotto has almost reached the correct gloopy consistency, take off the heat, and allow to rest for 15-20 minutes before serving.

Verdict

I really enjoyed this. I had my doubts about how it would thicken up, given that I wasn’t using short-grained rice, but it turned out fine (although I would like to try this with Arborio at some point). It was quite rich, which I enjoy, but people who prefer a milder flavour would probably do well to stick with the traditional white wine. For myself, though, I thought the red worked really well with the mushrooms and chilli, and it mitigated the need for any parmesan. The chilli provided a hint of heat, but it wasn’t overpowering, on account of the long cooking process (it was a lot hotter when I tasted it early on).

Definitely make sure you let it sit for the 15-20 minutes after taking off the heat. Originally, I just let it sit for about 3 minutes, and the kale was still a bit tough, and it didn’t seem to add much, given the strength of the other flavours. However, when I went back for a second helping, the kale had softened a bit and its flavour had come out a bit more.