The 24 Karat Feast: Carrot Risotto + Green Garlic Sauce
Servings: 6
Use this risotto as a special side dish or luxurious main for all your springtime feasts. Either way, it's pure gold!
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Ingredients
Carrot Stock
- 12 oz carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
- 5 cups water
- 2 tsp salt
The Risotto
- 2 Tbsp butter or ghee
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 large shallot, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1¼ cups Arborio rice
- ½ cup dry white wine
- salt and white pepper to taste
To Finish the Dish
- 2 large carrots, diced into small squares
- 1 Tbsp butter
Green Garlic Sauce
- 3 stalks spring garlic, finely minced (see substitutions below)
- ½ cup olive oil
- 1 small Meyer or regular lemon juice and zest
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Make the Green Garlic Sauce
- Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Set aside.
Make the carrot stock
- Place the roughly chopped carrots in a small saucepan with 5 cups water. Generously salt the water. Bring to a boil, lower heat, and cover with a lid. Allow carrots to cook about 15 minutes, until fork tender but not falling apart. Using an immersion blender (stick blender) or traditional blender, blend the carrots into to cooking water until perfectly smooth. Keep warm and set aside.
Make the Risotto
- While the stock is cooking, prep the shallot and garlic. In a large saucepan or saucier over medium heat, combine the butter and olive oil. Add the rice and sauted, stirring often, for about 5 minutes until the rice becomes opaque and fragrant. Add the shallot and garlic, stirring frequently, until they become translucent. The rice will continue to toast and become light beige while the shallot and garlic cook. Medium heat and frequent stirring will avoid any of the ingredients from deeply browning or burning at this point.
- Add the dry white wine, stirring vigorously. Once it is nearly absorbed, begin adding one ladleful at a time of the warm carrot broth, stirring very frequently, until it is nearly absorbed, then repeat adding broth and stirring until the rice grains have cooked to al dente-- "to the tooth," meaning the centers still have a little bit of chewiness. If you use all the carrot broth and the rice isn't yet cook through, add water and cook, stirring all the time, until it reached your desired texture. By all means, avoid letting the pot go to overcooked mush.
To Finish
- In a small skillet or sauted pan, gently cook the small-diced carrots in butter until barely becoming tender, about 5 minutes over medium heat. You still want a little crunch to them, and they will add a nice texture contrast to the creamy risotto.
- Place the carrot risotto in a serving bowl. Top with the pretty little carrot squares. Place a generous spoonful of green garlic sauce on top. Set remaining sauce on the table.
Notes
Make it Your Own:
For a completely vegan dish, replace butter with olive oil.
The white wine is optional, but makes a lovely difference if you can use it.
This recipe does not include the traditional Parmesan cheese, but if dairy is not your concern, add 1/2 cup grated Parmesan to the finished risotto, and garnish with more on top if you'd like. If you have dairy-free people at your table, don't add it to the pot-- simply set out a bowl of grated Parmesan for the dairy-eaters to use on their portions.
The green garlic can be replaced with scallions, or any number of fresh herbs. Mint would be lovely.