ROAST MARINATED VEGETABLES ON RISOTTO:

A festive colourful plateful of goodness. For a simpler quick meal, substitute plain steamed rice for the risotto recipe.

Ingredients:

Ingredients - Risotto:

• 2 cups risotto (Italian rice), or enough for your family
• 1 onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup wine (optional)
• vegetable stock
• Olive oil for frying

• Marinade: 1/2 cup oil
• 2 Tbsp. honey
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp. mustard
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• salt and cracked pepper to taste
• Vegetables: modify with what you like! Artichoke hearts and peppers are nice too.
• 4 tomatoes, cut into wedges
• 2 med-lg. leeks, cut julienne
• 12-16 mushrooms, cut in half
• 2 zucchinis, cut julienne

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Prepare marinade in a bowl. Chop vegetables. Julienne shapes (narrow strips) make for a nice presentation but be creative with whatever shapes you like. Mix all vegetables in a large bowl or keep them separated if you like. Toss in marinade and let sit for one hour. You can also modify the ingredients to add what you like. We sometimes use artichoke hearts and cubes of medium firm tofu.

Meanwhile, prepare the risotto. Heat oil in a heavy based frypan at medium heat. Add onion and fry for two minutes, add garlic and cook for another two minutes. Turn up the heat and add Arborio rice and stir constantly for two minutes until heated through. Pour in wine, there will be a bit of a sizzle, cook until wine has almost evaporated. Add a cup of warm vegetable stock to the frypan, turn the heat down to a simmer and stir until stock absorbed, then add another cup of stock. Continue adding stock until the rice doesn't seem to be able to absorb any extra liquid. After 25 minutes, taste the rice, it should be soft. If not, keep adding stock and stirring until rice is cooked.

While the rice is cooking, turn out vegetables onto a baking sheet which you have prepared with a little oil so they don't stick. Bake for about a half hour, turning every 10 minutes so they don't stick, and to keep them evenly coated with the marinate.

When everything is finished, serve by dishing out risotto onto a plate. Lay the roasted marinated vegetables over the risotto (in groups, if you've kept them separate until this point!). Serve with a fresh green salad or, in the case of the photos below, a lovely half of acorn squash.

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