BEETROOT RISOTTO WITH GOATS’ CURD

Serves 4-6

This dish is an unexpected hit with children and is a great way of discreetly upping their vegetable intake. If you find it hard to source, you can replace the goats’ curd with a mild, soft goats’ cheese.

2 small to medium beetroot Good knob of butter

1 tbsp olive oil

2 banana shallots, peeled and finely sliced

Leaves from 4-5 fresh thyme sprigs, plus extra sprigs to garnish

350g risotto rice

200ml white wine

750-850ml hot vegetable or chicken stock

30g Parmesan, grated

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Handful of chives, snipped

45g soft goats’ curd Handful of micro leaves

Heat the oven to 200ºc, gas mark 6. Wrap each beetroot in foil and roast for 45 minutes until tender to the point of a knife. Allow to cool a little, then peel, grate and set aside.

Meanwhile, melt the butter and oil in a large saucepan. Add the shallot and thyme leaves and gently fry for 5 minutes until softened. Add the rice and stir to coat the grains. Cook for a minute until the grains are translucent.

Add the wine and stir until absorbed, then gradually add the hot stock, a ladleful at a time, stirring until each is absorbed. When the rice is almost cooked, but still has some bite, add a generous ladle of stock, remove from the heat and stir in the Parmesan and grated beetroot. Season well. Stir and cover, then leave to stand for 5 minutes.

Stir in the chives then spoon into bowls and scatter over the goat’s curd, micro leaves and thyme.