This risotto makes me dream of summer. To be fair I love pesto any time of the year, with pasta, with roasted veggies or just with some avocado on toast, I can’t think of something which pesto doesn’t go with. So of course is a match made in heaven with risotto. Especially with juicy, sweet, slow roasted tomatoes. Summer really couldn’t come any sooner.

Serve 2

Ingredients:

1 white onion – finely chopped 

2 garlic cloves – crushed 

200g of risotto rice 

1 litre of veggie stock 

300g of cherry tomatoes – cut in half 

Salt and pepper to taste 

A drizzle of olive oil for cooking 

For the pesto:

30g of fresh basil 

2 tbsp of cashews 

1 tbsp of nutritional yeast 

The juice of 1/2 lemon 

1 garlic clove – crushed 

4 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil 

Salt and pepper to taste 

Spread the cherry tomato halves onto a baking tray with the inside flesh facing up. Drizzle with some olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast them in the oven at 140 degrees Celsius for 35-40 minutes.

In the meantime add the chopped onion to a large pan with a drizzle of olive oil. Saute the onion on a medium heat for 5-8 minutes until it starts to caramelise. Add the crushed garlic and cook for another minute. Add the risotto rice, mix everything together and add some veggie stock until the rice is covered. Cook the risotto for around 30 minutes adding more stock as the rice absorbs it. Make sure to keep an eye on it and make sure to keep stirring from time to time to prevent from sticking to the bottom of the pan. 

To make the pesto just add all the ingredients into a food processor until you have a smooth and creamy pesto. Add a dash of water if the pesto is too thick. 

Once the risotto is cooked season with salt and pepper and remove it from the heat. Add the roasted tomatoes to the risotto (reserve some for garnish) together with the pesto. Mix everything together and serve with the leftover roasted tomatoes and some chopped basil.