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Herby risotto with creamed tomatoes

Simon Rimmer from Great Food Live
For a risotto that's as fragrant as a Mediterranean herb garden and evocative of a bountiful summer, try Simon Rimmer's classy recipe

Herby risotto with creamed tomatoes

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4. To prepare the creamed tomatoes, simmer the cream and chopped garlic together in a small saucepan until the volume of liquid has reduced by one-third. Place the tomatoes cut-side up in an ovenproof dish and season with salt, pepper and sage. Pour over the reduced cream and bake in the hot oven for 25 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, lay the quartered fennel on an ovenproof dish. Season with salt and pepper. Squeeze the juice of the lemon over the fennel and add the lemon shells to the dish. Drizzle with the olive oil. Roast for 25-30 minutes or until the fennel is tender. Remove from the oven, allow to cool a little and slice into thin strips. Set aside.

3. To begin the risotto, heat the vegetable stock in a small saucepan. In a wide saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and fry the garlic and shallots until soft. Add the rice, herbs, fenugreek seeds and wine and stir well. Cook for two minutes until the rice is well coated with olive oil and glistening.

4. Add a large ladle of the hot vegetable stock and stir well. When all this liquid has been absorbed, add more hot stock. Continue adding ladles of stock and stirring until the rice is cooked.

5. Season the risotto to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in the sliced fennel and the extra virgin olive oil. Serve a generous portion of risotto topped with 3 slices of tomato and some of the reduced cream.

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Serves: 4

Prep: 25 min
Cook: 1 hr

Ingredients

For the creamed tomatoes

450ml double cream
2 cloves garlic, chopped
6 plum tomatoes
salt and pepper
12 sage leaves

For the fennel

2 fennel bulbs, quartered
1 lemon
75ml Olive oil

For the risotto

650ml vegetable stock
100ml extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 Shallots, finely chopped
450g Arborio rice
splash White wine
1 tbsp Sage
1 tbsp lemon thyme
2 tbsp Parsley
1 tsp Fenugreek seeds