Warm Up For Dinner

a baked risotto for these long winter nights

Welcome back to the Recipe Club! It was awesome to see how many of you guys jumped to make the soup last week. I love when my cravings link up with yours and we can all bliss out together. This week we’re staying put on the warm and cozy cooking train with a lemony baked risotto. 

The citrus trees all over LA are heavy with fruit right now and my neighbor gifted me 100 huge lemons so I figured that we all might like a little brightness in our dinner during the coldest days of the year. I love a stovetop risotto but, in the winter, I prefer to use the oven. The resulting dish is just as creamy as expected thanks to some vigorous stirring at the end, but you can fully fuck off while it’s baking instead of hovering over the pan. This 30 minutes of downtime gives you the chance to make something extra to throw on top if you’re feeling fancy or you can completely zone out on your phone, clanking something beside you in the kitchen to make your family think you’re busy as hell in there. No judgment here. We could all use a break these days.

I made a side of braised radicchio on the stovetop with a little soy sauce and balsamic vinegar to make the radicchio’s bitterness mellow out. The combo is perfect with the creamy risotto but a pile of your favorite roasted winter veggies would be just as good. Toss some chunks of onion, carrots, parsnips, rutabagas, or whatever you’re feeling in a little olive oil and some all-purpose seasoning with a pinch of salt. Empty this on top of a sheet pan and place it in the oven alongside the risotto, stirring the pan of veggies after 15 minutes, then pulling them out when they all look roasted and tender. It’s easy as hell and still leaves you plenty of time to hunt Zillow for the perfect farm for the commune you want to build with your friends. I can’t be the only one doing that right? RIGHT?

Lemony Winter Risotto with Herbs

Enough for 4 people

2 tablespoons olive oil or your favorite nondairy butter

½ a sweet onion, minced

1 ½ cups arborio rice

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 teaspoon lemon zest

4 ½ cups warm vegetable broth

2 tablespoons of lemon juice

1 tablespoon of olive oil or nondairy butter to finish, optional

¼ cup minced herbs like chives, dill, parsley, or a combination

Salt and pepper to taste

Warm your oven up to 350 degrees and grab a soup pot with a tight, oven safe lid. No pot with a lid? Use foil but really make sure that it’s tight on there so that the steam doesn’t escape when we put this all in the oven ok?

Place the pot over a medium heat on the stove and add the oil. Toss in the onion with a pinch of salt and sauté until the onion becomes translucent, about 3-5 minutes. Add the rice and continue to sauté. At first the edges of the rice start to look a little translucent then milky, about 5 more minutes. Once the rice grains look a little milky, fold in the garlic and lemon zest with pepper and stir until everything is nice and mixed up. Now pour in the warm vegetable broth and bring the pot to a simmer. You want to use warm broth so that rice stays warm and everything cooks quickly and evenly. Once the pot is at a simmer, stir the pot once, then throw on the lid and place it at the center of the oven. Let it bake for 30 minutes. Don’t open the lid, don’t check it at all. Set a timer and do something else while it bakes.

Once the 30 minutes are up, pull the pot out and check on the rice. It’s ok if it still looks a little liquid-y in there, you just want to make sure the rice is tender but not mushy. Place it back in the oven for a few minutes if the rice doesn’t taste all the way done. Once the rice is good to go, take the pot out of the oven, fold in the lemon juice and extra tablespoon of olive oil, if you’re using, and stir vigorously for a minute or two to help the rice release some starch to make the dish nice and creamy. This is when all that extra broth you saw in the pan when you pulled it out will get mixed in and thicken up with the starch. If the pot is looking a little drier than you want, add an extra ¼ cup of water or broth and keep mixing. Once everything looks creamy, fold in the herbs, then taste. Add more salt, pepper, or whatever you think it needs to make it perfect.

Serve warm as is or topped with roasted veggies or whatever you feel like. It’s your dinner after all.

Lemony Winter Risotto With Herbs

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Thanks so much for cooking along with me and sending all your great feedback. It helps me create better recipes for you guys in the future. Have you ever baked risotto before? Let me know in the comments!

ALSO as supporters you get 10% off our merch store, use code BR10 at checkout, if you want a cute apron or comfy sweats to get you through the winter.