Red Pepper Corn Risotto is a perfect way to incorporate two great summer vegetables into a wonderful, creamy rice dish. This would make a perfect side dish but is hearty enough to be a meatless meal.
The two most important things about risotto are the right type of rice and the stirring. You need to buy Arborio to make this recipe. This is an Italian short grain rice with rounded grains. As it cooks with the broth, it will slowly release its starch and become creamy. The rounded grains will stay firm and chewy.
This risotto will take about 20 minutes of stirring. Warm broth is added ½ cup at a time to the rice and stirred until the broth has been absorbed. The process keeps repeating until all of the broth has been stirred in. You will need to watch this and stir almost constantly to avoid the rice sticking and keep the broth mixing in.
Fresh, seasonal vegetables enhance any recipe but this can be made all year long. Red Bell Peppers are always available and there are many good organic frozen corn brands.
If you like stirring risotto, check out Sun Dried Tomato Risotto, and Roasted Shrimp Risotto.
You can also use this cooking technique with orzo pasta. This rice shaped pasta is great in Orzo Risotto.
If you love corn, check out Burst Tomato Corn Polenta.
Red Pepper Corn Risotto
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Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 small red bell pepper, diced
- 1 small shallot, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup Arborio rice
- ½ cup white wine
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 2 ears of fresh corn, removed from the cob ( 1 ½ cups frozen corn)
- ¼ cup parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
Instructions
In a medium size saucepan, bring the vegetable broth almost to a boil over high heat. Once it comes to this point, turn the heat down to the low setting. You need to keep the broth warm throughout the process.
Add the butter to a large saucepan over medium low heat. Add the red bell pepper, shallots and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally for 2 minutes.
Add the rice to the pan and stir it so that all of the grains become coated with butter. Let it cook for 1 minute.
Add the wine to the pan and stir it in completely. Cook, stirring until it has been entirely absorbed by the rice.
Once the first addition of broth is absorbed, add another half cup of broth and stir until that has been absorbed as well. Keep repeating the process of adding the broth a half cup at a time until it is absorbed while stirring almost constantly.
When you have used half of the broth, add the corn to the pan.
As you are reaching the end of the process of adding broth, taste the rice to see if it is still too firm or ready to serve. If it is a tenderness you like, you may not need to add all of the broth.
Once the risotto has absorbed most or all of the broth and is ready to serve, stir in the parmesan cheese and parsley.
