Summery Risotto With Corn, Zucchini and Cherry Tomato Oil

Summery Risotto With Corn, Zucchini and Cherry Tomato Oil (from Herbivoracious.com, Servings: 6, Total Time: 45 minutes)

Ingredients for the tomato oil:

•  6 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
• handful of flavorful cherry tomatoes (or ¼ cup diced ripe tomato)
• ¼ tsp. salt

Ingredients for the risotto:

• 6 cups mildly flavored vegetable broth
• 4 Tbsp. olive oil
• ¼ cup minced onion
• 2 cups arborio rice
• ½ cup dry white wine
• 2 tsp. salt
• corn kernels from 1 and 1/2 ears, reserve the cobs (apparently they give it a more corny flavor)
• 2 small zucchini, fine dice
• ½ cup or more grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese plus more for serving

Directions

1. Bring the broth to a simmer, and add the corn cobs (if using).
2. Prepare the tomato oil by pureeing all ingredients in a mini-food processor.  Allow to steep for half an hour if possible and refrigerate if not using soon.
3. Heat 4 Tbps. olive oil over medium heat in a large, heavy pot. Sauté the onion for a couple of minutes until softened but not browned. Add the rice and sauté for a minute or two until it turns slightly translucent.
4. Add the wine and salt stir until absorbed.
5. Add the broth, one ladle at a time, stirring very frequently. Continuously isn't necessary. When the rice begins to dry out, add another ladle.
6. After approx.. 16 minutes, begin to check a grain every minute. When there is a slight white pinhead that is a bit tough inside, add the vegetables. If you have used up all of the broth, you can start using water. Add more salt if needed.
7. Within 10 minutes, the rice should be tender. Take it off of the heat right away and stir in the cheese.
8. Serve in individual bowls. Add a good squeeze of the tomato oil around the edge, and top with more cheese.

This risotto recipe is fairly easy, which I always like.  I used a vegetable bouillon mix to make the 6 cups of broth needed.  I also used the white wine that we had in our wine cabinet, which was more of a semi-sweet than dry (it added some nice sweetness to the flavor, though).  I also used frozen corn instead of corn on the cob (so, I obviously did not add cobs to the brother, either).  As I said, this was an easy recipe and it turned out pretty delicious.  It was slightly salty, so you may want to consider cutting back to 1 ½ tsp. in the risotto.  I was a little hesitant about the tomato oil – but it does add a little bit of an olive oil/salt flavor, but I cannot really taste the tomatoes, which would have been nice.  It does add a nice color component to the dish though – then you have red, yellow, white and green! 

The zucchini and corn stayed crisp even when cooking for 10 minutes with the risotto.  It was a nice texture component paired with the creamy risotto.  And I will give that to this risotto – it is creamy, even when reheating for leftovers!  My husband and I both liked it a lot (and I didn’t even add the extra cheese on top!) and I do plan on making it again.  I just had some for leftovers and my mouth is already watering for it again!