Roasted Vegetable Risotto

Sometimes I refer to Monday as Meatless Monday. Sometimes I call it Vegan Monday and that really makes me laugh.

Ha! Me? Give up cheese? Not happening.

And if you know me or have read my blog at least once, you know that the last thing I am is a vegetarian.

Not that there is anything wrong with being a vegetarian, but I have a passionate love affair with bacon that I am not willing to give up.

Vegetarian or not, this Roasted Vegetable Risotto is a satisfying main course or side dish that you will love.

You can read about my other risotto dishes HERE.

The vegetables I chose to roast were Zucchini, Yellow Squash, and Portobello Mushrooms.

Preheat the oven to 450F, slice the vegetables, toss with olive oil, and set them aside.

They will cook faster than the risotto so we don’t need them just yet.

I use this Thai Coconut Curry broth.

It is a chicken-based broth but you can use a vegetable broth if you are making this a vegetarian meal.

You’ll want to warm the broth over low heat in a separate saucepan so that it is warm when you add it to the risotto.

I start with leeks and fennel.

Slice the leek and put them in a bowl of water.

This will allow all of the dirt that is stuck in there to fall to the bottom of the bowl.

Next, slice the fennel:

And the fennel fronds.

We’ll use those later.

Heat butter in a pan over medium heat and then add the fennel.

After about 5 minutes or so add the leeks.

Sauté them together until they begin to get a little color. Color is flavor.

Add a cup of Arborio Rice to the butter, fennel, and leek mixture.

Let the rice soak up all of the flavors in the pan and toast a little bit.

Pour a glass of dry white wine.

Take a sip and then pour it into the pan.

Scrape up the brown bits at the bottom of the pan and continue to stir until the rice has soaked up all of the wine.

Now one cup at a time add the warm broth.

Stir until the rice has absorbed all of the broth before you add another cup.

It’s time to put the vegetables in the oven.

Roast them for about 15 minutes at 450F. I season them halfway through cooking.

Continue to add broth to the rice one cup at a time until you have used up all of the broth.

When all of the broth is added and absorbed, add the mascarpone cheese.

As many dollops as you want to. No one is looking.

You can use heavy cream but I adore the silkiness of mascarpone.

Once that is mixed together and creamy add the chopped fennel fronds.

Then the roasted vegetables.

Carefully combine everything together and let the risotto flavor cover the vegetables.

I guess you could just top the risotto with the roasted vegetables but I wanted them to get covered in the creaminess.

I love the colors.

This Roasted Vegetable Risotto was so delicious and it was perfect as our entrée last Monday night.

And like all risotto, the leftovers are perfect for lunch the next day so hide them in the back of the refrigerator so no one gets to them before you do!