Risotto with Basil and Tomatoes
Submitted by sarahh on October 21, 2008 at 3:44 pm

4 cups chicken broth/stock
1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
1 1/2 cups tomatoes, chopped
1 teaspoon dried basil or 1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
1 small onion or 2 shallots, minced
1/2 cup dry white wine or water
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, diced
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for serving

Place broth in a saucepan and bring to a simmer, reduce heat to keep at a low simmer.

In a small bowl, combine tomatoes, basil, black pepper and 1 teaspoon olive oil. Set aside.

Add 2 teaspoons of olive oil to a large skillet or dutch oven, and heat over medium high heat. When hot, add onion or shallot and saute until soft.

Add rice and continue sauteing until rice is lightly toasted. Add wine and stir constantly until absorbed. Add garlic and saute about 30 seconds. Add 1/2 cup of hot broth and continue stirring constantly, until almost absorbed. Continue adding broth, 1/2 cup at a time, and stirring until it is almost absorbed before adding more. This should take about 20 minutes total. Rice will start to get creamy and soft.

When broth is almost gone, taste a few grains of rice to see if it is al dente, but not crunchy. If necessary, you may need to use a little bit more water to get it all the way cooked. When last bit of broth is almost absorbed, add tomato mixture and saute for 2 minutes. Add cheese, stir to combine and then remove from heat.

Let sit for 5 minutes to let the cheese melt. Stir to combine and serve immediately, with Parmesan cheese.

We like to have this as a main dish, with a salad, broccoli and crusty bread. You really do need arborio rice for this, trust me!

We haven't tried any other vegetables, but I am sure you could experiment, just make sure they are quick cooking, or are precooked or blanched so they won't be crunchy.

This is a lighter recipe, lots of recipes for risotto start with a lot of butter or olive oil, we find we don't miss it!