Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
- 3/4 cup frozen peas and carrots, or any vegetable of choice like zucchini or mushrooms, chopped well
- 1 heaped cup Arborio rice
- 4 cups low sodium chicken or vegetable stock, or bone broth if preferred
- Freshly cracked salt and pepper to taste (I prefer Himalayan pink sea salt)
- 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
Directions
First, in a medium saucepan, warm the stock over medium heat till slightly boiling. Then turn heat down to low and keep simmering for duration of cooking.
In a medium nonstick sauté pan on medium heat warm the oil. Place in the garlic, peas and carrots and cook on medium heat for 1 to 2 minutes to warm slightly.
Add all of the uncooked rice into the pan and stir well to incorporate and almost fry the rice if you will, for 1 minute.
Add in one large ladle of the warm stock to the pan and stir well. You are going to be adding the stock in 4 batches, so try to use about ¼ of the stock per time. This might be 1 to 2 ladles depending on the size of your ladle!
Stir constantly on medium low heat until mostly all of the liquid has been absorbed into the rice. This is a slow and steady dish, cooking it on higher heat won’t help it to cook faster. You want it to bubble slightly, but not boil. Slow and steady.
Once most of the stock has been absorbed, add the next ladle or 2 of warm stock to the pan and continue to cook on medium low heat, stirring continually until almost all of that stock has been absorbed by the rice. This whole entire process should take you about 20 to 25 minutes, so roughly 5 to 6 minutes each addition of stock.
Continue this process until all the stock has been added and absorbed and the rice is cooked through with a bit of bite slightly remaining. Once cooked, turn off the heat.
Add salt and pepper to desired taste and stir in the grated Parmesan cheese until nice and creamy. Taste and re-season if desired. Serve straight away as a delicious side dish to almost any meal.
