What to do with a handful of sun-dried tomatoes, a green pepper, half an onion and half a carton of chopped tomatoes? Buy some white wine, make some veggie stock, and pull out the arborio rice. It’s risotto time.

Risotto is usually creamy and heavy, but this version is much lighter and is a taste combination of risotto and jambalaya. Light, tomato-y, and delicious. It’s also a great way to use up random things that you’ve got in the house.

Luckily, this will be my last “using up what I’ve got” recipes, as I head off on holiday tonight. There will be blog posts while I’m away, and I already have a few ideas of what to make. I promise they will be great!

Unfortunately, I probably won’t post as much as I have been doing in recent weeks, bear with me.

I’m so excited about going on holiday, as I’ve not been out of HK since Christmas. And yes, as a teacher I get a nice long summer holiday. But I have to thank all the friends and family who are letting me crash at their places in order for me to afford such a long holiday. If it wasn’t for them, I’d only be gone for two weeks, maybe three. And then I’d be back in the humid, rainy, hot, sunny mess that is a Hong Kong summer.

I’ve turned off all my alarms (I will need to set one for the occasional early morning flight), my suitcases are packed. I’m ready to go. Well – I will be once I write this blog post, and put my laptop away.

Summer is officially here.

And now, so is the recipe.

Ingredients

2 cups arborio rice
10 sun-dried tomatoes, diced
1/2 large onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 cups chopped tomatoes
1 cup white wine
1 litre vegetable stock
50 grams Parmesan
salt
pepper
smoked paprika

1. Place onions, pepper, garlic and sun-dried tomatoes in a large wok or frying pan, over a medium heat. Stir occasionally, for 5 minutes.
2. Add the rice and stir for 2 minutes until the rice starts to become translucent.
3. Pour in the white wine, and allow the rice to absorb the liquid, stirring occasionally.
4. Slowly add the veggie stock, a half cup at a time, and stir the rice occasionally until the liquid has been absorbed. Continue until all of the liquid is absorbed.
5. With the last half cup of stock, stir in the chopped tomatoes. Season with salt, pepper and smoked paprika.
6. Allow to cook, while stirring, until all of the liquid has been absorbed. Then grate the Parmesan cheese over the top and stir through.
7. Divide into four servings and enjoy with broccoli or vegetables of choice. You could even have this with a portion of fish or chicken breast.