Mushroom and Spinach Risotto

In my quest to be eating more vegetarian/vegan food again, I starting thinking back to what I ate a lot of when I was actually vegetarian – sounds obvious doesn’t it!  When I was an overweight vegetarian, I ate a lot of cheese and fries and junk. Anything that was convenient basically. When I decided that needed to stop and that I needed to get healthy and lose weight, I started cooking everything from scratch and risotto was one of the first things I made. Yes, I did end up burning the pan.

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Valentine’s Day is coming up (waits for mixed reactions) and some of you might be looking for something to cook, which is why I am sharing this really quick and easy recipe with you. You don’t want to be spending hours in the kitchen when you could be spending time with the people you love. I know Valentine’s Day gets mixed reactions, but I fall somewhere in the middle. Whilst I don’t think we should wait for a certain day to show someone you love them and everything is so over priced, I think any opportunity to show people you love them is good, so we always have a special meal. Remember, V-Day isn’t just for couples – celebrate loving your family and friends too.

Although some people find risotto a little difficult at first (I did too), as you have to constantly watch it and add a little bit of water at a time, so it can make it time consuming, I have started using my REDMOND Multicooker and it has made it so much easier and quicker. You just put everything in and it does it’s thing.
I love my multicooker and it doesn’t exaggerate when it says it is a multicooker, as it really does do everything: soups, stews, oats, cakes, steams, yoghurt, pasta, fondue, bread. Bread is the next thing I am going to try in it.

The REDMOND Multicooker will save you having to have any other kitchen gadget, as it combines them all. Although I think everyone could make use of this, I think it would especially appeal to people that are short on kitchen space, like students. I know I wish I had this when I was living in student halls many years ago. Not only a space saver, but a time saver too. The REDMOND Multicooker is so easy to use and comes with a handy recipe book to get you started.

If you don’t have a multicooker (although I really recommend one), you can make this on the hob too.

The great thing about risottos is that you can put pretty much anything in them. Our risottos tend to use up leftover meats and beans we have and whatever vegetables need using before they start to look lifeless. We had some spinach on its way out, so that went in to this.

Ingredients – Serves 2:

– 2 tbsp olive oil

– 150g/0.75 cup brown rice

– 1 leek, diced

– 5 mushrooms, diced

– 2 garlic cloves, crushed

– 250ml/1 cupcup of homemade vegetable stock

– 4 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

– A pinch of sea salt and black pepper

– 2 handfuls of spinach

1) Rise the rice until the water runs clear.

2) Put the olive oil in to the bowl of the Redmond Multicooker, add the leeks, mushrooms and garlic and select FRY-VEGETABLES. Set the timer for 5 minutes and cook with the lid open until the time is up.

2) Press the KEEP WARM/CANCEL button.

3) Add the rice to the vegetables and level it off. Add the spinach, stock, salt and pepper and parsley, close the lid and select QUICK COOK. Set the time for 20 minutes and cook until the programme ends.

Nutritional Information – Per person:

Calories: 388

Fat: 9

Carbs: 69

Protein: 9

Fibre: 4

What are your plans for Valentine’s Day? Are you going to be cooking a special meal?

**This recipe was commissioned by Redmond**