Easy Roasted Tomato Risotto

Yesterday I was having a hard day so I decided to cook myself a real dinner. For those of you who know me you know I love to cook but ONLY when someone is here to eat it with me. This stems mostly from my intense hatred of doing dishes. Usually when it's just me I eat cereal, scrambled eggs, quesadilla's or left overs or I go to my Mom's house and eat her food as I did Monday night:)

Last night I made myself roasted tomato risotto with roasted green beans. It was so good. It's my own recipe that I have been using for a couple of years. It's one of those great foods that seems fancy but in actuality is inexpensive and easy, this makes it perfect for romantic dinner's. I think it would be a perfect summer anniversary dinner along with roasted shrimp and green beans and a good bottle of wine. So I thought I'd share with all of you. Sorry there are no pictures because I let Jess take my camera to Boston.

Easy Roasted Tomato Risotto

1 1/2 cups aborrio rice
half of a onion chopped
4 ripe tomatoes
8 cloves of garlic, don't peal
3-4 cups of chicken broth
olive oil
salt and pepper
1/2 cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tb + 1 Tb butter
fresh thyme or oregano

Pre-heat oven to 425.

Wash and core tomatoes, place them in baking dish. Put the whole un-peeled garlic cloves in the dish with the tomatoes. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast 45min-hour. Set aside to cool.

To make risotto first you need to bring the broth to a boil. You can do this in a sauce pan or just in the microwave in a Pyrex glass measuring cup. As soon as the garlic (that roasted with the tomatoes) is cool enough to handle squeeze it out of the skin. It should be soft and gooey. Discard the skin and roughly chop the tomatoes in the baking dish reserving all the liquid.

Heat a small amount of olive oil to med-med-high in 3 quart sauce pan. Add 2 Tb butter. Once butter is melted add the onions and cook stirring frequently 3-5 minutes till translucent and just starting to caramelize. Add the rice and cook 2 minutes stirring constantly. Add 1 cup of the broth, stir constantly until broth is absorbed, once broth is absorbed add another cup. Continue this process until all the broth is absorbed it should take about 15-20 minutes. Taste the rice. It should be just slightly al dente but close to being done. If it doesn't seem close heat another cup of broth and add. If it seems close add the tomatoes, garlic and all the reserved liquid. Stir until liquid is absorbed. Add 1 Tb butter, the cheese and the fresh herbs. Taste. add salt and pepper as needed.

Enjoy!