Lemon Sunchoke Risotto

Risotto is the secret food of ancient Italian gods.
(Prada, Pucci, Fendi and Gucci)

Go ahead, make this for your own Italian god.

Reasons I love risotto:
You can put almost anything in it.
It is easy.
It is tasty.

Do you need any more?

This recipe is perfect for Valentines Day, full of earthy sunchokes, brightened with lemon juice and sweetened with caramelized onions.
If you don’t want to caramelize the onion, we understand.
You are lazy.

Don’t be lazy. Take the time to caramelize the onions (this can be done up to two days in advance to make things easier!). The onions melt into the rice and make an ultimately romantic dish out of nothing more than rice and some lemon juice.

Make it for your vegetarian friends.
Make it for your carnivorous friends.

Make it for us.
(and Valentine’s Day!)

Free of Gluten, Dairy, Processed Sugar, Soy, Corn and Eggs. Vegan.

  • 1/2 Yellow Onion
  • 3-4 Tablespoons Olive Oil
  • 1 cup Arborio Rice
  • 2 cloves Garlic, minced (~2 tsp.)
  • 1/3 cup Pinenuts
  • Juice of one Lemon (Save the peel! See step 3!)
  • 2 sprigs Rosemary, minced (~1 heaping tbs.-Save the picked stems! See step 3!)
  • 1/2 pound Sunchokes (Jerusalem Artichokes), chopped into 1 inch cubes
  • 1 quart Vegetable Stock
  • Salt and Pepper to taste

Get Busy

  1. Thinly slice the yellow onion saute it with the olive oil in a dutch oven or another heavy bottomed stock pot. Add some salt to help draw out the moisture and speed up the caramelizing process.
  2. Saute the onion for 30-40 minutes, or until the onion is light brown and sweet!
  3. While the onion is caramelizing, set a sauce pan on medium heat and add the veggie stock along with the rosemary stems and lemon peels. Once it boils, drop the heat and let it simmer.The stems and peels help to eliminate that boxed flavor from store-bought stock!
  4. Add the rice, garlic and pinenuts to the dutch oven and saute just until the rice grains look slightly toasted.
  5. Add the lemon juice to the dutch oven, deglazing the pan (fancy speak for using an acid to get all the flavorful bits off the bottom of the pot).
  6. Add the minced rosemary and chopped sunchokes to the rice and saute for five minutes.
  7. Begin adding the warm vegetable stock one ladle full at a time to the dutch oven. Allow the rice to absorb the liquid slowly, when it looks like the stock is gone, add another ladleful.
  8. Stir and continue to ladle in stock until all the stock is gone, this should take about 20-30 minutes.
  9. Remove the pot from your stove and serve to a lovely date!

Prep. Time: 30-45 minutes
Cooking Time: 30-45 minutes
Yield: 4 dinner portions or 6 side servings