Steps

• Pour the vegetable soup, still frozen, into the pan and let it go for a few minutes to defrost.

  Add a drizzle of oil, stir with a spoon, then pour in the rice.

  When the rice has absorbed all the moisture, deglaze with the wine, then proceed with cooking by adding the broth one ladle at a time and allowing it to absorb before adding the next ladle.

• The risotto with vegetable soup is ready in about 20 minutes:

  

• Plate.

  

• ☝ Stirring, usually necessary for risottos to make them creamy, I didn’t do here because the potatoes in the vegetable soup bind the rice sufficiently to my taste.

  👉 Optionally, vegan stirring can be done simply by using extra virgin olive oil, preferably kept in the fridge (to thicken), or frozen in very small portions (in a small ice cube tray).

  ☝ I add a small note: 👉 This vegan version can be considered a complete meal because the vegetable soup I used, and which I suggest you use, is the one with legumes. It’s true that, generally, every plant-based dish is vegan, but a complete vegan diet must also include the protein component; otherwise, the meal is unbalanced. It’s true that in frozen soups, legumes aren’t in large quantities, but for today we will make do. 😊

• Proceed as described for the vegan version, then, instead of plating, pour the risotto into a baking tray, add a mix of cheeses to taste (I used stracchino, edam, and fontal).

  

• Bake just long enough to melt the cheeses or until gratinated, as you prefer.

  

• 🖐☝ For a cheese to be considered vegetarian, it must be produced without animal rennet but with vegetable or microbial rennet. I recommend always checking the labels of cheeses, but if you are vegetarian, you probably already do this. I’ll leave you the link to this article from GreenMe as well as this useful list of cheeses without animal rennet.