A beetroot & lemon risotto

I didn't learn how to make risotto in the traditional manor. I've never followed a risotto recipe, and no member of my family ever taught me (as far as I can remember). Yet, not one risotto that I've ever made has gone wrong. I've collectively followed the advice of various celebrity chefs, and generally just followed their processes. I follow two rules: Never stop stirring and always add the liquid a little at a time. I've never made two risottos alike and I really enjoy experimenting with them. I loved this beetroot risotto. With the beets fresh out of our organic box, not only was it my favourite colour, but it was simply delicious and the process of creating it was like a piece of art - making sure all the flavours matched. Towards the end of cooking, it tasted slightly bland and I felt it needed to be kicked up a notch. Lemon was the solution. In went the juice of half a lemon, but it still wasn't quite there, so in went the other half. Perfect!

I didn't do any precise measurements, but it's a basic risotto recipe with enough rice to serve six. For a really rough guide it probably works out to about 2 cups of rice to 1 litre of stock - but don't quote me on this. This is how my recipe goes:

Cover the bottom of a pan with olive oil and then some. Add one chopped onion and some squashed garlic and heat on medium until the onion becomes translucent. Add about that much arborio rice and heat the rice through until the rice is well coated in oil. Add a splash of very hot vegetable stock and stir until it has been absorbed into the rice. Add 2 diced fresh-of-the-farm beets and stir through until the mix has turned pink. Add a glug of stock and stir until it has been absorbed. Season with lots of pepper and a little salt. Continue this process, glug-stir-absorb until the rice is cooked through. Add one lemon's worth of juice but beware of the pips. Absorb the lemon juice into the rice. Add a dab of butter and stir through until melted (I didn't do this as butter and I are having an argument at the moment). Serve.