Beetroot & blue cheese risotto

At the dinner party almost a fortnight ago, the smoked salmon and dill tartlets were followed by a plate of creamy red risotto. The inspiration for this dish came from Anne's beet risotto with garlic, fava beans and goat cheese and Angelika's beetroot risotto with orange and Gorgonzola. As I had realised during a recent beetroot and cheese experiment, I knew I wanted to use a blue cheese in my beetroot risotto instead of goat's cheese (but sadly couldn't find Gorgonzola here). Furthermore, the dish had to be vegetarian, so no turkey or bacon could be added. There had to be a slighty 'Nordic' twist to the risotto, so using oranges was out of question. Some recipe tweaking later, I served the following dish to my guests. .

Beetroot & blue cheese risotto
(Peedi- ja sinihallitusjuusturisoto)
Serves 6



2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp butter
4 medium red onions, peeled, halved and finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 large raw beets (about 600 grams), peeled and cut into small cubes
350 grams risoto rice (I used carnaroli)
2 litres vegetable stock
225 grams mild blue cheese (I used Gambozola)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
fresh chopped parsley to garnish

Heat the vegetable stock in one saucepan, keep it simmering under a lid while you start making risotto.
Heat the oil and butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Add onion and garlic and fry gently for 5-6 minutes, until onion starts to turn translucent. Make sure not to burn the onions!
Add beetroot cubes (the smaller, the better) and fry for a few minutes, stirring.
Increase the heat a little, add rice and stir, until all rice grains are glossy and covered with a reddish oil mixture.
Now start adding the vegetable stock, a ladleful or a few at a time. Keep stirring the rice gently to avoid sticking, or even worse, burning. Only add more stock when most of the previously added stock has been sucked up by the rice.
Risotto is ready, when the rice is cooked, but still al dente.
Now stir in chopped blue cheese, which flavours the risotto and makes it beautifully creamy. Season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with plenty of fresh parsley and serve.

UPDATE 14.2.2007: Check out these gorgeous beetroot risotto recipes over at Fiordizucca's blog (with feta cheese) and Bea's blog (with parmesan cheese).