Risotto is such a great main dish, or side. I had this as my main meal with some super crisp broccoli and my husband had a whopping great steak with a side of this risotto and he loved it. Of course I didn’t tell him it had Aubergine in it. Ha! The Aubergine is cooked down and goes creamy and sweet, you would never know its there.
Its a bit of extra time to scorch the Aubergine first but it needs to be done for the smokey flavour. I scorched the Aubergine and fried off the cubes the day before and finished this dish the next day.
So here we go, the recipe:
Aubergine and Lemon Risotto
Ingredients:
2 medium aubergines
60g olive oil
Tsp of salt to sprinkle
50g parmesan
Peel of 1 lemon (reserve juice) no white part please!
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves
30g olive oil
10g butter
200g risotto rice
100g white wine
1tbsp stock or 2 stock cubes
550g water
20g butter
10g basil leaves, shredded
Method:
Start by burning one of the aubergines on a gas burner. Line the area around the burner with foil, and put the aubergine directly on to a moderate flame and roast for 12-15 minutes, turning frequently with metal tongs until the flesh is soft and smoky and the skin is burnt all over. Keep an eye on them the whole time so they don’t catch fire. The aubergine needs to deflate completely and the skin should burn and break. I set my smoke alarm off doing this. 😂
Remove from the heat and make a long cut through the aubergine. Scoop out the soft flesh while  totally avoiding the skin which is really bitter. Discard the skin, roughly chop the flesh then set aside.
Cut the other aubergine into quite small 1.5cm dice. Fry the aubergine dice in 4 batches until golden and crisp using 15g with each batch. It will soak up the oil instantly. That is normal, just keep frying, it will come good. Transfer to a colander and sprinkle with salt. Leave to cool.
Add your Parmesan cheese and  lemon peel to your tmx bowl and grate 10 sec/speed 10. Transfer into a bowl and set aside.
Place onion into mixing bowl and chop 3sec/speed 5. Scrape down sides of mixing bowl with the spatula. Add 30g olive oil and 10g butter and sauté 3 min/120C/Speed 1.
Insert butterfly whisk. Add risotto rice and sauté 1 min/120C/reverse / speed 1.5 without measuring cup.
Add white wine and sauté 2 min/ Varomsa / reverse / speed 1.5 without measuring cup
Scrape the bottom of the mixing bowl well,with spatula to loosen rice
Add stock, water and all the reserved Aubergine. Again, scrape the bottom of the mixing bowl with the spatula to loosen any stuck rice.
Cook 12 minutes/100 C/ reverse / speed 1.5. Place simmering basket on top of bowl instead of MC.
Transfer into thermo server. Stir in the parmesan and lemon peel and 20g butter. Serve with shredded or torn basil scattered on top.
Can't Stop Baking 