Easy Tomato Risotto Recipe From ‘Kitchen Repertoire’

Every week, we’re spotlighting a different food blogger who’s shaking up the blogosphere with tempting recipes and knockout photography. Below, Frances Boswell and Dana Gallagher of Kitchen Repertoire prove that hearty tomato-based dishes aren’t just for winter with an easy-to-master tomato risotto.

Photo: Dana Gallagher

Easy Tomato Risotto

We have been wanting to make tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches all winter long.  Never happened.  And so working now with similar flavors but a slightly less mid blizzard feel. One forgets exactly how good risotto is.

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, worked to paste
1 cup Arborio rice
½ cup dry white wine
1 14 ounce can cherry tomatoes
6 cups unsalted chicken broth, homemade best, heated to a simmer and kept hot
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan Reggiano, plus more for serving
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Sea salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Heat olive oil over a medium flame in a heavy-bottomed sauce pan. Add onion and sweat until soft and translucent. Add garlic and cook a minute longer. Stir in rice. Gently fry or toast rice in the oil until kernels begin to glisten, about 5 minutes. Listen for a popping sound as rice cooks. Add wine and continue to stir until all of the wine has been absorbed. Stir in the canned tomatoes, juice and all, using back of a wooden spoon to break down cherry tomatoes. Cook, stirring constantly (or almost constantly) until tomato juice is mostly absorbed.

Now begin to add chicken stock, ladleful by ladleful — stirring between each addition and allowing stock to be absorbed before adding more. Risotto is not an exact science so keep on eye on things — find a nice balance between soupy and stiff. Taste as you go to make sure rice is thoroughly cooked but not reduced to mush. When rice is to your liking (perfect of course) stir in cheese and butter. Wait a moment to determine what that did. Is a little more stock necessary to balance things out? Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper and serve hot — with a bowl of grated cheese for the greedy.

More hearty one-bowl dishes:

Heidi Swanson’s chickpea stew with saffron, yogurt, and garlic

One tasty vegan wheat berry salad for summer

How to build a better bowl of chili

Have you ever made risotto? Tell us below!