Sweet Potato and Green Pea Risotto

Over the weekend, I got all kinds of caught up on my cooking. We came home from Tahoe to a pretty empty freezer, which is where I usually have my supply of quick-and-easy, no-thinking-required dinners.

I like to cook once but eat multiple times – though not concurrently – so I usually make up a bunch of different recipes/grains/beans on the weekends and freeze them small Ziploc containers. I try to write the contents and the date it was made on it, so I won’t forget what’s in each container (this doesn’t always happen). Then, I randomly pull stuff out of the freezer over the course of the week 2-3 days before I want to serve it again, so it will be magically defrosted and ready to go in time. This is a huge weekday time saver.

In general, I’ve found that cooked beans, soups/stews, rice/grains, and pasta dishes freeze/defrost pretty well, so that’s usually what’s on tap for weekend cooking sessions.

This weekend, I put together a Test Kitchen original, inspired by my butternut squash orzo. I thought I’d pull a fast one on 2Chili, and cook some sweet potato into risotto and distract him by adding green peas. As he came up to see what was cooking after a morning of yard work (weeding my garden to prepare for Spring planting, how thoughtful), he went straight to the stove and tasted the risotto. I didn’t tell him what was in it, but, our conversation went like this:

Me: Do you like it?

2Chili: Yes, but you know I don’t like sweet potatoes.

Me: But I added green peas!

2Chili: Of course, green peas are the magical ‘cover up’ to counteract sweet potato.

Okay, so 2Chili has a sarcastic streak. And, I didn’t fool him. But he did like it, and proceeded to have plenty for dinner. That’s a start. I am determined to do for the sweet potato what I recently did for the black bean, and add it to 2Chili’s “approved foods” list.

Here is an easy and healthy risotto that doesn’t require nonstop stirring.

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Sweet Potato and Green Pea Risotto

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Time Required: 30-35 minutes

Skill Level (out of 5):

Makes: About (6) 1-cup servings

Ingredients:

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • ½ onion, chopped
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 ½ cups Arborio rice
  • 4-5 cups low sodium vegetable broth
  • 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
  • 1 large sweet potato, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
  • 1 cup cooked green peas
  • Salt to taste

Method:

  • Peel and chop a large sweet potato into large chunks. Add to food processor and pulse until you have small, bite-sized chunks (don’t pulverize); Add the chopped sweet potato to a microwave safe bowl with about 1 cup of water and microwave for 2-3 minutes, until the sweet potato is beginning to get soft. You could also use chopped roasted or baked sweet potato here.
  • Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.
  • Chop onion – or do like I did and “food process” it – and add to the oil with the garlic powder, cooking until onions are slightly translucent (2-3 minutes).
  • Add the rice to the onions, and cook for 2-3 minutes, until rice starts to want to stick to the pan.
  • Add 3 cups of the veggie broth and the vinegar, stirring to combine, and bring to a boil.
  • Cover, and reduce heat to low and cook for about 5 minutes.
  • Add the sweet potato and brown sugar (and salt, if desired – I only used 2 pinches), and simmer for about 15 minutes, until the rice is tender, adding more broth as you go if needed. You only need to stir every 5 minutes or so.
  • Stir in the last cup of broth and the cooked green peas. The rice should be moist and creamy – if not, add a little more broth.
  • Serve and enjoy!

Nutrition:

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