Baked Pesto Risotto
with kale and pear salad
We need to thank Carolina C. for suggesting the genius idea of baking risotto in our Facebook group. Enjoy this great Italian dish without the laborious stirring, making it a much easier weeknight dish. Our paleo version features spaghetti squash instead. Both use up the remainder of that artichoke-spinach pesto for a totally restaurant worthy dinner!
Ingredients
- Onions - 1, diced
- Parsley - 1/4 bunch, chopped
- Cooking oil - 2 Tbsp
- Arborio rice - 1 cup
- White wine - 2/3 cup
- Chicken stock - 3 1/2 cups
- Salt - 1/2 tsp
- Peas - 1 1/2 cups
- Leftover artichoke-spinach pesto - 3/4 cup
- Lemon - 1/2, juice of
- Parmesan cheese - 2 oz, grated
- Kale - ~1 bunch, leaves of
- Shallots - 1/2 bulb, diced
- Pears - 2, sliced
- Balsamic vinegar - 1 1/2 Tbsp
- Dijon mustard - 1 tsp
- Maple syrup - 1 1/2 tsp
- Cooking oil - 3 Tbsp ((like grapeseed, vegetable, or avocado))
- Walnuts - 1/4 cup
Nutrition Facts
Prep
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Make
- Preheat oven to 425F (218C) degrees.
- Heat a saute pan (that you have a lid for) over medium-high heat. Add oil and then onions to heated oil with a dash of salt. Saute until softened, ~3 minutes. Next add arborio rice stir until rice gets a golden hint. Add in white wine and stir until absorbed.
- Stir in chicken stock and salt and bring to a boil. Cover and transfer to oven. Bake in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until all the liquid has been absorbed.
- While risotto is baking, dice shallots and slice pears. Whisk together shallots, balsamic, Dijon, maple syrup and oil and dress kale leaves in vinaigrette.
- Transfer pan from oven to stovetop. Make sure to keep a kitchen towel over the handle of your pan to remind you that it's hot and came out of a hot oven! Return to a low heat and stir in peas and pesto and finish with a squeeze of lemon juice. Divide into bowls and serve with parmesan and parsley. Toss pear and walnuts into salad and serve alongside risotto. If you still have some prosciutto left, you can chop it up and put it in your salad too.
Nutrition Facts
Reviews
Ratings
39 reviews
Agree with everyone that this is a keeper! I messed up the risotto and it still was delish. Kale salad was yummy too!! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
0 HelpfulI didn't make the salad, but the risotto was good. I didn't know risotto could be made so easily, and this recipe can be easily adapted too. Tasty.
0 HelpfulI hate peas so I put broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower in the risotto instead. It was delicious! My husband loved the kale salad so much he wanted to have it again the next night. Update: I've made this a few more times in various ways, such as adding tomato sauce instead of pesto, using different veggies, etc. It's a quick, easy, filling meal with leftovers. This is also one of our favorite salads on the site, we've made it several times.
0 HelpfulWorks great in a rice cooker too! I cooked the onions the day before and put them in the fridge. Added the rice, onions, wine and stock to the rice cooker and cooked on the white rice setting. Added the peas and the pesto and it came out perfect! Big hit with the toddler too :)
0 Helpful