MEATLESS MONDAY: lemongrass risotto

Hello lovelies! I spent the weekend at a wonderful, romantic wedding in the heart of Switzerland, in Lucerne. It was an awesome feast of love, complete with a moving service, beautiful couple, great BBQ food, fun crowd, line dance sessions (eep! love line dance) and last but not least a breathtaking view of the lake and the cityscape at night. Short for: I'm completely wasted and exhausted, laugh.

Hence the short post today. I need some beauty sleep, and fast! I am kind of planning to just stay in bed for three days, please?

Here's a dish I cooked for my family last week: a lemongrass risotto with roasted vine tomatoes on branches, grilled haloumi (a greek cheese that tastes similar to feta but is very rubbery and nice and can actually be grilled very well) skewer and basil olive oil drizzle. They all loved it - me too.

LEMONGRASS RISOTTO W/ ROASTED VINE TOMATOES & HALOUMI SKEWER

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups of risotto rice
• 2 cups of white wine
• 1 liter of vegetable bouillon, kept simmering on the stove meanwhile
• 1 onion, minced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 4 lemongrass stalks, outer leaves removed, soft core minced
• 1 cup parmesan cheese, grated
• 2 tbsp. mascarpone
• 1 tbsp. lemon zest
• 1/2 lemon, juice
• 1 tbsp. butter
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• salt, pepper

• 2 haloumi cheeses (or about 600 grams) + wooden skewers

• 4 vine tomato branches (with about 5 tomatoes per branch)

• drizzle olive oil
• salt, pepper
• 1 cup basil leaves
• 1 cup olive oil
• salt, pepper
• lime oil (for finishing touch)

METHOD

1. Start by heating the bouillon in a saucepan and keep heated. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan, Sweat the onion, garlic, lemongrass and rice in it for 2 minutes. Deglaze with the white wine. Add the lemon zest. Stir continually. When the wine is evaporated, continue to add liquid (now broth) and stir on. Whenever liquid is incorporated in the rice, add more liquid. Proceed until the rice is cooked al dente.
2. In the meantime: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Place the tomatoes (on the branches) in a oven proof pan, drizzle with a little olive oil, season with salt and pepper and roast for twenty or so minutes.
3. Next, cut the haloumi cheese into cubes and pull onto wooden skewers. Place on a baking pan lined with a parchment paper. Grill in the oven (one oven layer over tomatoes) for 15 minutes or until golden.
4. And: for the basil oil (note: i love a good pesto-like drizzle on almost any dish... it adds flavor and color). You can either quickly blanch the basil leaves in hot water for only 20 seconds, drain and pat them dry and finally puree them with the olive oil - OR you just puree them with the olive oil. On the blanching: the blanching isn't necessary, but it makes sure the green color stays and prevents bitterness (which can happen with basil, normally). In any way: add a generous pinch of salt and pepper.
5. Finally, the finishing touches to the risotto: Add the butter and mascarpone for creaminess, stir to combine. Same with the parmesan. Season only now with salt and pepper (since the parmesan adds a bit more saltiness, too, so only salt now). Now for the twist: add the lemon juice (only shortly before serving).
6. Assemble everything: place the risotto in the middle of the plate, place the tomato branches and the haloumi skewer on top, drizzle with the basil oil and finally with a few drops of the lime oil (if available). Serve & enjoy.

For the coconut chocolate marble cake (yuuuum!) please visit my blog. Cheers to a good week, lovelies! See you next Monday.