Rice cooker oven roasted cherry tomato and basil risotto

Anyone who reads my blog knows of my love for risotto.  Tonight I made oven roasted cherry tomato and basil risotto.  It’s amazing what great flavours you can get from a few ingredients.  As always, I made my risotto in the rice cooker.  I can’t believe the number of people who are amazed you can do this.  It’s just so quick and easy.

1 rice cooker cup of arborio rice
1 1/2 cups of vegetable stock
2 punnets of cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup of fresh basil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 teaspoons of olive oil
2 teaspoons of butter
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
2 whole cloves of garlic peeled
1/2 cup of freshly grated parmasen

Pre-heat the oven to 150 degrees. Place the cherry tomatoes in a roasting pan and add a little olive oil (enough to coat), season with salt and cracked pepper and place the peeled garlic cloves in the dish. Cook for 20 minutes until soft. Be careful not to blacken them. Remove from the oven and set aside.

Turn on the rice cooker to cook mode (if you have a quick cook mode I suggest using this to fry the onions) and add the oil and butter and heat until the butter melts before adding the onion and garlic. Cook until onion becomes transparent. Add the arborio rice and cook for a couple of minutes until it becomes semi translucent. Add the stock and turn your rice cooker down to cook mode if you had it on quick cook earlier. Cook until liquid is almost absorbed. Add the roasted tomatoes and stir through, making sure you break the tomatoes in the process to release their juices. Then stir through the parmasen cheese and basil. Season to taste.

~ by delicieux on October 5, 2008.