Have you already decided what to cook for lunch? Good! Then here’s a simple and tasty idea just for you that could be on your table in just half an hour: the carrot cream risotto.

It’s another recipe my daughter gave me, lately the student recipes here are multiplying! 😃

Ahhh yes, it’s Monday again! and the Light and Tasty column today has decided to offer you recipes “without”.

But without what? Ah, for me deciding the “without” this time was a bit chaotic! I could have made it easy and told my colleagues on the Team that my recipe today would be… guess what… without salt! 😄 A flawless trick, right? 🤪

But no, I couldn’t… 😅 and so, to cut to the chase and avoid the “without salt”, and thanks to my innate sense of complicating my life, I decided to try a sweet recipe (gluten-free and egg-free was the initial idea). Rash decision at first. And then it became impossible due to a series of circumstances, like: lack of ingredients at home, and then forgetting to buy them (so things of minimal importance, right? 😅).

At the end of a week that calling chaotic is an understatement, I landed on a recipe kindly gifted to me by Flavia, saint-soon-to-be daughter, not having in my large archive of recipes made and photographed a single recipe that was without something (except salt). Nothing gluten-free, nothing sugar-free… yes, I absolutely need to update the archive!

So, to recap, this carrot cream risotto is: gluten-free (obviously, being rice), salt-free (let’s reiterate, for those who didn’t get it!), and meat-free (does meat-free count as “without”?), meaning it’s a vegetarian recipe.

Another useful thing to add is that it’s hassle-free (can I say that? 😄). It’s easy, ready in no time, economical, filling, plus it has a good dose of vegetables (something not obvious in students’ meals, worth mentioning! 😃), it’s pretty to look at, and also suitable in case of unexpected guests.

As well as a recipe to impress when (if you are the aforementioned students) you return home to your parents! Yay! 😍

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For other risottos that meet all the above qualities, also check these out! 👇

Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Economical
Preparation time: 20 Minutes
Portions: 4
Cooking methods: Stovetop
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: All seasons

Ingredients

13.4 oz rice
4 carrots (5, if small)
3.5 oz cooking cream
1 onion (large or 2 small)
1 quart vegetable broth
1 glass white wine
2 tablespoons Parmesan
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 pinch pepper
rosemary

Tools

Saucepan
Frying Pan
Small Pot
Hand Blender

Steps

Chop half an onion (if large, or one small onion).
Sauté it with a tablespoon of oil in a saucepan.
Add the rice and toast it.
Deglaze with white wine.
Cook the risotto by adding hot vegetable broth a ladleful at a time, as tradition dictates.
While the risotto is cooking, cook the carrots in a separate pan as follows:
Wash and scrape the carrots (or peel them) and chop them in a mixer or the appropriate accessory of the hand blender (or even with a knife).
In the non-stick pan, cook (for 15-20 minutes) the chopped carrots, the other half of the chopped onion, and a tablespoon of oil.
Season with a pinch of pepper and a small sprig of rosemary.
👉 During cooking, moisten if necessary with a few tablespoons of vegetable broth.
When the carrots are cooked, transfer them to the glass of the hand blender and puree them.
👉 If you don’t have a hand blender, you can simply cook the carrots well and mash them with a fork or masher (like this). The final result of the carrot cream is coarser but equally great.
Pour the carrot puree into the pan, add the cream and a few tablespoons of broth.
Pour the carrot cream into the risotto (or vice versa), mix and stir in the Parmesan.
Serve immediately. 😋

Salt-Free Advice

Salt-Free Training the palate from a young age to the true flavors of food is feasible without effort, you just need not to salt children’s food (or salt it very little). This way, they will grow without feeling the need to add salt. Both my children do not add salt to pasta water, do not salt vegetables either cooked or raw, in general, they do not add salt when they cook by themselves. I’m sure it can only be positive for their future health. To learn more, I’ve told our entire family journey in this article. 😊

If you are interested in reducing or eliminating salt, always remember to:
▫ Decrease salt gradually, the palate needs to get used to it slowly and should not notice the progressive reduction.
▫ Use spices. Chili, pepper, curry, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, cumin…
▫ Use aromatic herbs. Basil, parsley, oregano, thyme, sage, marjoram, rosemary, mint…
▫ Use seeds. Sesame, pine nuts, almonds, walnuts…
▫ Use spicy vegetables or fruit. Garlic, onion, lemon, orange…
▫ Use my salt-free vegetable granulate
▫ Prefer fresh foods.
▫ Avoid cooking in water, prefer cooking methods that do not disperse flavors (grill, foil, steam, microwave)
▫ Avoid bringing the salt shaker to the table!
▫ Sometimes indulge in breaking the rule. It is good for the mood and helps to persevere.

If you do not want, or cannot, give up salt:
▫ You can still try my recipes by salting according to your habits.

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Light and Tasty:

And now here are all the “without” recipes from my Light and Tasty Team colleagues:

Carla Emilia: Rice flour fusilli with baked cherry tomatoes and pecorino
Cinzia: Apple pie in air fryer without lactose and gluten
Claudia: Orange biscuits without eggs and milk
Daniela: Biscuits with chestnut flour and almonds
Elena: Mandarin cream
Milena: Cookies without (gluten-free – lactose-free – egg-free – yeast-free)

Delicious Recipes

Carrot Cream Risotto