Ezgi's lemon risotto with caramelized cherry tomatoes
Ezgi Polat is a Berlin-based photographer (@ezgipolat). She also runs a food blog (@ischta__) filled with delicious mediterranean recipes. A few weeks ago, Ezgi shared her tips with us on how to scramble eggs to perfection. Now she’s back with another light & summery recommendation: Lemon risotto with cherry tomatoes!
Sounds delish? It is! Read on to try it out 🍋🥣🍅"
The recipe
You need:
- 1 onion
- 1 clove of garlic
- 550 ml vegetable broth
- 2 TB olive oil
- 1 TB butter
- 150 g risotto rice
- 50 ml white wine
- 4 TB grated parmesan cheese
- 6-8 cherry tomatoes
- 1 pinch of sugar
- 1 pinch of sea salt
- 1 pinch of pepper
- 1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
- 1 TB lemon juice
- 2 twigs of thyme
Start by finely dicing the onion and garlic. Bring the veggie broth to a boil, then keep it on the switched-off stove to keep it warm. Heat the oil and butter in a pot, add onion and garlic and stew them for approx. 2 minutes. Next, add the risotto rice and stew while continuously stirring for another minute. Deglaze with white wine and let it boil down until it thickens.
Pour in a third of the warm broth and stir it in on medium heat, letting it boil until the rice has absorbed most of the liquid. Repeat this process twice with the rest of the broth, until your risotto has been cooking for 20 minutes and the grains of rice are still a little firm to the bite.
Heat 1 TB of olive oil in a small pan, add the cherry tomatoes and a pinch of sugar. Roast the tomatoes, repeatedly turning them for approx. 2 minutes.
Last but not least: Mix 2 TB grated parmesan into the rice and season your risotto with salt, pepper, lemon zest and lemon juice. If it’s still a little too firm, you can add a bit more broth.
The final flourish: Sprinkle your risotto with the rest of the parmesan and garnish with the caramelized cherry tomatoes and twigs of thyme.
Done! Your risotto is ready to enjoy! 😋