Pesto Risotto with Mushrooms & Roast Tomatoes
An incredible risotto with juicy mushrooms and beautifully flavoured with basil pesto and lots of lemon. The popping roast tomatoes take it to the next level tasty.
Delicious just as it is, but then (and I’m not sure why I haven’t done with before) topped with gorgeous bursting roast cherry tomatoes
First, some cookbook news!
I’m so excited to tell you I’ve been writing a cookbook!
I’ve been beavering away on the biggest and most exciting project of my life for some time now and I’ve poured my heart into creating the recipes–I can’t wait to share it with you 🙏🏻
You’re going to find everything; warming comfort foods, dishes packed with flavour and spices, easy one-pot meals, incredible desserts and much more. I’ll be sharing more news in the coming weeks on my social media channels with some sneak peaks.
My cookbook ‘Rebel Recipes–vegan food for the soul’ will be published on 26 Dec, and it’s available to pre-order now.
Get your hands on a first addition–here’s the link 🙏🏻❤️
And now for the risotto–which has juicy mushrooms and is beautifully flavoured with basil pesto and lots of lemon.
Delicious just as it is, but then (and I’m not sure why I haven’t done with before) topped with gorgeous bursting roast cherry tomatoes–They pop and their juices ooze into the rice. Amazing.
The last flourish–topped with more pesto, toasted pine nuts, a drizzle of balsamic glaze and rocket. So good!
Ingredients
For the pesto
- 4 tbsp pine nuts toasted
- Big bunch basil
- 1 garlic clove
- 3 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- Twist black pepper
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- Water to loosen
- Roast tomatoes
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes
- Splash olive oil
- Sea salt
For the risotto
- 250 g arborio rice washed
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 onions chopped roughly
- 4 cloves garlic sliced
- 3 tbsp white wine
- 4 cups veg stock
- 2 cup mushrooms of choice sliced
- 4 tbsp nutritional yeast
- Zest 1 lemon
- 1 tsp sea salt
- Lots of black pepper
- 1 cup pesto
- Juice 1/2 lemon
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- Pinch salt
For the toppings
- More pesto
- Toasted pine nuts
- Balsamic glaze
- Rocket
- Sprinkle sea sat
Instructions
To make the pesto
- Add all the ingredients to your food processor or high-speed blender and blitz until everything is combined with the texture you prefer. You may need to scrape the sides down a few times.
To cook the tomatoes
- Add the cherry tomatoes to a large baking tray and toss them in 1 tbsp of olive oil. Bake on a medium heat for 30 minutes or until soft and browning a little. Set aside.
To make the risotto
- Add the oil to a large pan (with a lid) on a low to medium heat, then add in the chopped onions. Fry for 8-10 minutes until soft. Next, add the garlic and fry for a minute, then add rice and stir for a minute, then add in the wine. Stir to combine thoroughly.
- Add the rice and the white wine to the pan and stir throughly to combine.
- Add 1 cup at a time of stock at a time until all the liquid is absorbed.
- Stir in 1 cup pesto and the mushrooms. Now add in the zest and juice of your lemon, salt, pepper, chilli flakes and nutritional yeast and stir to combine.
- You can eat at this stage or if you want a super gooey and comforting risotto, turn off the heat and pop the lid on and let it sit for 10 -15 minutes
To serve
- Top with the roast tomatoes, more pesto, toasted pine nuts, a handful of rocket and a drizzle of balsamic glaze.
12 Responses
This tasted sooooooo good! I didn’t have nutritional yeast or vegetable broth, so I added some parmesan and goat cheese and used chicken broth instead.
Hi, there is nothing in the recipe on how to prepare mushrooms? Do you just add uncooked sliced mushrooms into rice? Or do I need to fry the mushrooms before hand? Thank you!
Sliced and added raw.
Love,Nikix
Didn’t have any pine nuts so replaced them with walnuts in the pesto – absolutely delicious, and as a rule of thumb I really don’t like risotto.
Hi Niki,
I’ve just made this recipe, (the first of many of yours that I’ve bookmarked!) This is absolutely delicious, can’t believe how beautiful it tastes!
Thank you so much for sharing this, very excited to try your other recipes now!!
Becky x
Hi Becky – thanks so much for your wonderful comments, I hope you enjoy! Niki xo
Delicious!! I opted to use prepare pesto but it still turned out great. I followed this recipe exactly and it yielded upwards of 8 servings rather than 2-4.
Hi Shannon
Perfect! Must be my greedy portions!
Much love
Niki xxx
Do you have to add the yeast? What is the purpose of this?
Hi Anna
The nutritional yeast adds a ‘cheesy’ flavour. Its not essential but improves the flavour.
My best
Niki xx
Looking forward to having this for dinner tonight!
I hope you enjoy! xx