I wish I could tell you that the beets used in this recipe came from my garden. That I planted them, nourished them to grow, gave them my love, and harvested them myself. But you see, where I live, we are still shoveling snow. Snow that fell on April 14 to be exact. All 10 cm of it. There ain’t no vegetables growin’ round these parts. But I want you to know, that if I lived in a climate that was more conducive to growing anything for more than a few months out of the year, I definitely would have grown these myself.
Well…I would have tried to grow them myself. But unfortunately, I have a black thumb, the deathly version of it’s lively counterpart, the green thumb. I have a curse. I cannot keep plants or flowers alive. They wither as soon as they set root or stem on my property. I will never have the pleasure of telling people that the delicious vegetables they are tasting came from my garden. Thank goodness for farmer’s markets, or else I would be forever destined for a life of tasteless grocery store produce! Depressing eh?
Honey’s lovely sister (and fellow foodie) emailed me a few weeks ago with this recipe for beet risotto. I knew I had to try it as soon as possible when she described it as tasting like “f—ing amazing creamy lovestyle italian amore.” Whoa. Yes please.
So last night, with fingers stained red with beet juice, I tasted this heavenly dish, and totally echoed her sentiments. And added in a hell yeah. Now I don’t want to be pushy, but you might want to go to the store right now (or your garden, if you don’t live in Santa’s backyard or have a black thumb like me), and buy these ingredients, and make this for dinner. Tonight.
Because we can all use a little extra amore.
Beet Risotto
2 beets (about 3″ in diameter), peeled and diced small
1 onion, chopped small
1/4 cup butter
1 cup arborio rice
3 cups stock (chicken or vegetable)
1 TBSP. balsamic vinegar
1/4-1/2 cup goat cheese
Salt and pepper, to taste
THIS LOOKS AMAZING!! And I have beets in my fridge that I wondering what to do with. It’s PERFECT. Have you heard of Community Shared Agriculture?? M and I joined joined a project last year and are doing it again this season. It’s a way to make small farms more sustainable – a farmer sells “shares” in their farm at the beginning of the season (rather than investing a lot of money himself in start up for the season). Then every week, each share holder gets a box of veggies from the farm. You don’t get to pick what you get – and if it’s a bad year, you loose your initial investment, but the idea is that there’s less risk to a larger community of people than to the one farmer. With our project, we have to go out to the farm twice a year to help with planting, watering, etc – which is my favorite part. All of our veggies are certified organic and we had a really great experience with it. Let me know if you’re interested – we should talk more!
Thanks Z! No, I have not heard of Community Shared Agriculture. But it sounds right up my alley! Let’s chat more next week! 🙂
I made this tonight – my first time ever cooking with beets – it was SO delicious! Like grown-up comfort food. I’m already excited for leftovers tomorrow 🙂
We are making this for the second time tonight. It was sooooo amazing the first time. I saw it on Tasty Kitchen, and then followed up here on your food blog. Good Job! I’m looking forward to the rice pudding recipe next!
Thanks Donna! It’s great to hear that you enjoyed it! The rice pudding is so decadent, I hope you give it a try too! 🙂
Hi! I found this recipe and couldn’t resist making it. It was delicious, thank you for sharing! Here is my version with pistachios: http://latetedelegumes.wordpress.com/2011/11/20/beet-goat-cheese-risotto/
🙂
So glad you enjoyed it! Interesting addition of pistachios!
I have been looking for a recipe similar to this one, something resembling an amazing beet risotto I tasted in Maui last year. It seems to me that that one had fewer chunks of beets it in–do you think this recipe would work if half of the beets were pureed and the other half included chopped?
They also did a fresh carrot risotto, which was incredibly sweet and fresh tasting–any ideas for ingredients aside from carrot puree? I think it was made with parm, the beet with goat cheese.
Thanks!
You’d be surprised at how much the beets break down as the risotto cooks. The end result is very creamy, and you don’t even really notice any “chunks” of beets that are left. However, you could also try grating the beets in a food processor to get finer pieces, which will break down even more as they cook. You could do the same thing with carrots (grate them) to get a similar result. I would bet that the carrot risotto would have similar ingredients to this recipe – onion, butter, and broth, but maybe omit the balsamic vinegar. Now you’ve got me craving risotto!