brown rice risotto – in under 9 minutes

Before picking up Peter Berley’s ‘The Flexitarian Table’ I was clueless about how to create a brown rice risotto. I used to take a traditional approach, and just substite brown rice for the arborio. The problem, besides being time consuming, was that no matter how long I cooked it for, the grain always had an uncooked center. But when I flipped throgh Mr. Berley’s beautiful book and landed on the recipe for Creamy Risotto-Style Brown Rice with Spring Greens and Asiago, everything changed.

What is so brilliant about his recipe, is that is uses cooked rice. The preparation time is considerably reduced, and the results are stunningly delicious. And as an extra bonus, you know have a great way to turn your dried out, leftover rice into something brand new! The recipe below was featured as part of my Natural Foods Boot Camp series at Whole Foods. It is the stripped down recipe with only a handful of ingredients. Once you get the basic technique down, you can create endless variations. This would be delicious with pumpkin and sage, or come spring (yes, it will be here – eventually!) use blanched dandelion greens and cannelini beans. A little freshly grated on parmesan is always a lovely addition.

Whip this up for a no-fuss weeknight supper with last night’s rice, or wow your friends at a dinner party or potluck. They won’t believe it took under 10 minutes!