Risotto Cake

Try this great recipe when you are next entertaining. It is sure to impress your guests.

Serves 6-8

Preparation time = 10 minutes

Cooking time = 40 minutes (plus 1-2 hours cooling time)

You can prepare this dish ahead of time and store it in the fridge until you are ready to cook it.

Ingredients

1 onion finely chopped
400g mushrooms, sliced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tsp finely chopped basil (you can also use frozen or dried)
2 cups Arborio rice
5 cups stock, boiling (Massel salt reduced chicken style stock)
400g can chickpeas
75g semi sun-dried tomatoes, drain oil and roughly chop
125g frozen spinach (can you fresh if you prefer)
¼ cup parmesan cheese
1/3 cup multigrain bread crumbs
8 slices reduced fat tasty cheese
1 Zucchini, sliced lengthways
125g packet of fully sun-dried tomatoes
Optional: extra parmesan for top
Spray oil (olive or canola

Method

Spray oil in pan and brown onion
Add mushrooms and sauté for two minutes
Stir in tomato paste, garlic and basil
Add rice and fry for 2 minutes
Add stock
Bring to boil then reduce to simmer
Stir through semi sun-dried tomatoes and spinach
Simmer and cook for 15-20 minutes or until liquid has evaporated. Stir occasionally.
(if rice is not soft once water evaporated add a little more water and continue to simmer).
Turn off heat and stir through parmesan cheese
Leave to cool
Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees
Spray oil 25cm in spring fold pan and sprinkle with half the breadcrumbs
Add half the cooled risotto mixture
Layer cheese, zucchini and fully sun-dried tomatoes
Top with rest of risotto
Top with remaining breadcrumbs and if desired additional parmesan cheese
Bake in moderate oven for 20 minutes
Remove cake from tin and serve with green salad
Enjoy

Variations

Try adding roasted capsicum and asparagus into the risotto mixture
Try substituting the mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes and spinach with roasted vegetables
Instead of making the risotto into a cake try stuffing it into some roasted red capsicums. Simple half the capsicum and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and fill with risotto mixture. Top with breadcrumbs and bake for 15 minutes. Serve with green salad.