December 23rd
2008
Maybe the weather could have been slightly better. Outside of that, our rather spontaneous trip to meet dear friends and do some Christmas shopping in NYC couldn’t have been any better. It came down to one great meal after another, we discovered fancy hidden bars, left with a bag more than we initially came to the city and brought back a notebook bursting of ideas and inspiration. ‘Gotta love NY. How often can I repeat that?
Munich weather isn’t any better these days – fog, rain, snow or the other way around – back home we soon started craving some serious comfort food. A big bowl of steaming hot pasta or risotto sounded like the perfect choice and both dishes give you a distinct invitation to experiment with what your fridge and pantry have to offer. With a bit of intuition, common sense and cooking passion, there’s not much that can go wrong. Aside from neglecting to taking notes along the way which could make an incidentally found true killer recipe a one hit wonder – something that happens quite often to lazy people like me. Thankfully not this time! The risotto with roasted bell peppers had such a rich flavor and velvety texture, that I not only wrote down the recipe immediately after the bowls were emptied, I prepared it for friends just a couple of days later, too.
But the best thing about this risotto was the shortcut I learned in the process: Haven’t we all cursed the roasted/grilled bell peppers during the tedious procedure of peeling their charred skin? As tasty as they are roasted, the peeling really su—! Ok, putting them into a ziploc bag for half an hour usually helps, but still. Here is what baffled me: Thanks to an invitation I had to skip my risotto plans and my readily roasted peppers came to enjoy an extra night on my fridge’s shelf. Which made the peeling dead easy, it worked like a breeze and the skin came off just like that, in one go! So if you have a little time on your hands and can plan ahead, prepare them a day in advance, it will save you time in the end…
And before I forget: Happy holidays to all of you, enjoy some downtime with your family and friends and especially the one or other delicious feast!
Prepare the bell peppers – preferably a day ahead: Preheat the oven to maximum heat (230°C or 450°F are fine). Wash bell peppers and cut around stem to pull it out with the seeds (discard). Shake out remaining seeds, then cut each bell pepper lengthwise into 4 or five pieces, before cutting off the inner ribs (discard). Place the bell pepper pieces on a parchment paper lined baking tray with skin showing up, then roast in the oven on the second top level. If your oven offers an additional grill function, this is the perfect chance to use it! Roast for 15 to 20 minutes or until evenly blistered and charred. Take out and fill into a ziploc bag while still hot. Squeeze out residual air, then seal and chill the grilled bell peppers in the fridge over night. Just before starting with your risotto, remove from bag, discard their charred skins and cut the bell peppers into thin strips.
Prepare the chorizo: Peel off the skin off the sausage (discard) then cut into small cubes. Heat a smaller heavy pan over medium heat, add the chorizo and the olive oil and roast slowly, stirring every now and then.
Prepare the risotto: Melt the butter over medium heat in a large saucepan, add the finely chopped shallot as well as the dried pepper flakes or chopped fresh chile and sauté shortly until soft and translucent, but don’t brown them. Add the rice and stir to coat the grains with the butter, then add the tomato puree.
Now add a cup of the warm broth and stir gently until almost all of the broth is absorbed. Add a little broth at a time, continuously stirring and having an eye on the pot to not let the rice stick to the bottom. Do so for about 15 minutes, or until the rice is almost done. Finally add the roasted bell pepper stripes, some thyme leaves and cook for two or three minutes, until the mixture is creamy and the bell pepper stripes have almost melted into the risotto, note that the tender rice grains should still retain a tiny little bite. Remove from heat, add the hot oil from the chorizo pan (but not the chorizo itself) and fold in the grated parmesan, then season to taste (if more salt is really necessary).
Serve with a generous dollop of Crème fraîche, sour cream or marcarpone (if desired) and freshly ground black pepper, then top off with the roasted chorizo cubes and enjoy!
Risotto with roasted bell peppers and chorizo
Recipe source: own creation
Prep time: ~30min. plus chiling, cooking: ~25min.
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Ingredients (serves 2 as a main, 4 as an appetizer):
3 bell peppers (red, orange and yellow)
parchment paper and a ziploc bag
2-3 tbsp butter
1 large shallot, finely chopped
dried pepper flakes or freshly chopped chile to taste
200g risotto rice (e.g. Carnaroli)
2 tbsp tomato puree
~1l vegetable or chicken stock
~50g Chorizo, cut into small cubes
2-3 tbsp olive oil
fresh thyme leaves
a handful Parmesan, freshly grated
sea salt, if necessary
optional: top off with a generous dollop of either Crème fraîche, sour cream or marcarpone and some freshly ground black pepper
Almost nothing beats the smell of roasted bell peppers. Looks so good!
A great place to get a lot of peppers at a good price is on the farms out in the fields.
Out in St. Sauveur here in QC you can go pick them yourself and you next to nothing for a whole bucket full. It's a great experience.
Hmmm. Da weiß ich ja jetzt schon, was es zu Essen gibt, wenn die ganze Feiertags-Futterei vorbei ist, bei der sich jeder an Gängen und Besonderheiten übertreffen will...
Da ist man doch wieder für etwas Reelles, Einfaches zu haben.
Hört sich ganz toll an! Auch mitten in der Nacht, in einem Berg endlich verpackter Geschenke sitzend! ;-) Fröhliche Weihnachten und einen guten Rutsch!!!
I have never roasted peppers at home, always bought them at the deli. Will try after the holidays, because the risotto looks delish. Happy holidays to you and your family.
it looks delicious,
i love the combination of risotto and chorizo
Looks like a nice hearty meal for the cold holiday season!
We love risotto and roasted peppers, your recipe is perfect for my family!
You made that dish look like so easy to prepare. Will try it out. Merry Christmas!
[...] Roasted bell pepper risotto dating chorizo cubes » delicious:days Haven't we all cursed the roasted/grilled bell peppers during the tedious procedure of peeling their charred skin? (tags: food recipes) [...]
Great dish, definitely try myself. Can you let out the secret where in Munich can one get good Chorizo?!
Happy Holidays, love your blog.
Yum yum yum...I'm definitly going to try this soon!!! Easy and tasty!!!
What a recipe. Love the color of the dish, definitely a must try dish. Looks yummy and healthy.
I hate skinning grilled peppers and will definitely try your tipps. Why haven't I ever thought about using them in risotto?
I agree - NY at Christmas time is amazing!! Glad you enjoyed your holidays!
A great dish, but it is definetly not healthy - but who cares along it's great taste!
Hi! I loved the article. Great recipe!
The taste of Roasted Bell Peppers is hard to beat. Usually I prepared it for an Appetizer or with Pasta. Can't wait to try it with your Risotto. Sounds irresistible. And thanks for the advise how to peel it much more easier.
Delicious cooking in 2009!
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Betty
Am not such a big fan of risottos so far, but this one really looks worth trying. Love your fotos...
Wo kann man besser einkaufen?! ;-)
Euch beiden ein glückliches 2009 und alles Liebe und Gute! :-)
Yum! This looks lovely. Glad you had a good trip to new york and ate at some of our best restaurants!
A lot of Barbaras here, no?
Cooked the risotto yesterday, incredibly delicious! This will be one of my favourite standards now. Instead of the classic thyme I had lemonthyme and I add a bit garlic.
Really great recipe. Thanks.
I've recently discovered your blog and am enjoying it very much. I can't wait to try this recipe as I find good risotto to be an elusive treat.
Hi Nicky,
I made this risotto between Christmas and New Year, for a hassle-free dinner with my husband. It was sooo delicious!!! It was my first time roasting quartered peppers, until now I have been roasting (or rather broiling) them whole, but this method is so much easier. I did not have tomato puree on hand, so I omitted that, but it was still awesome! Thank you for this great recipe!
My husband is Portuguese and loves Chorizo so when I showed him the recipe, he asked "Did she use mild or spicy?" So, do you recommend spicy since the peppers are already going to add some sweetness OR did you use a sweet Chorizo and find it had a nice balance?
EDIT Nicky: I have a weak spot for spicy Chorizo, so that's what I used - and it worked very well!
I often do the same - discover a wonderful recipe, tweak it a bit, then end up enjoying it too much that I forget to write down all the tricks and twists! Good on you for doing it this time :)
The recipe looks delicious... it's a 40 degree day here in Sydney, so I might have to save it for cooler weather. BUT chorizos and red capsicum do have persuasive powers!
thank you, I tried the recipe and it was marvellous!
I must admit I used canned roasted pepper, In fact they are pretty good, at least in Spain, a shortcut that' s worth a try.
Bell peppers and chorizo...Two of my favorite "add in" ingredients! It was perfect in the risotto--thanks for the recipe.
Since we had a rare sunny & warm winter day here in California, I took a short cut and roasted the peppers directly on the flames of our outdoor gas grill. They weren't as pretty, but it was a quick way to get the same roasted flavor in less time. The only drawback was that every Grateful Dead and Bob Marley fan in my neighborhood was soon in my yard looking for the party. I guess they were a little confused by the smell and my comment that I would be "smoking some peppers." Next time, I will follow your recipe more closely and stay indoors
habe die paprika nach deinen angaben zubereitet, aber: wenn ich sie so dunkel werden lasse wie auf deinem foto, brennen sie von unten auch an. außerdem ist das ganze blech voll angebranntem paprikasaft, den ich bei dir nicht sehe. was mach ich falsch?
ich liebe dein blog. schön, dass du jetzt wieder mehr zeit zu bloggen hast, nach dem buch!
Conny, Hmmm, ist mir noch nicht passiert, deshalb kann ich nur spekulieren: Es ist wichtig, dass die Paprika größtmöglicher Hitze ausgesetzt wird, damit die Haut möglichst schnell und gleichmäßig schwarz anläuft, die Paprika selbst aber nicht verbrennt. Also, Ofen auf maximale Themparatur vorheizen (gerne mit zugeschaltener Grillfunktion) und die Paprika möglichst weit oben einschieben. Auch das Problem mit dem Paprikasaft läßt mich rätseln...
Wenn Du einen Gasherd hast, kannst Du auch mal diese Version ausprobieren.
... oder Fahrenheit ...
sind ein Unterschied von 120 °C!
Conny, ohne Grill gehts nicht, sonst backt die Paprika nur und wird weich.
Sounds and looks very different! I love how beautiful the peppers look after they have been roasted. Nice risotto!
Geez, what is it with all the Barbaras? I made this over the weekend and it was FABULOUS. I mean, it was really, really good. The chorizo oil was a genius add, and the crunchy bits on top, just perfect. Thank you so much for the recipe, which will now become a regular in my household.
That looks pretty amazing. Full of texture and bold flavors. I have never had luck making risotto. Thanks so much for sharing.
Very nice recipe.
I didn't try it right now, but I used the clue with the chilled roasted pepper. Due to the fact that I didn't have enough time, I only put the ziploc into the refrigerator for only one and a half hour. The result is a very easy peeling of the pepper.
Thanks for the hint.
This was so good! Thank you for sharing!
Tried the risotto and even my boyfriend liked it, normally he's not a risotto person.
That look great. You got great extra flavor by roasting those peppers.
risotto...our favorite meal in dalmatia...rizot...you are in my favorits...regards pozdrav ...
Such wonderful flavours! I love risotto and chorizo and together...wow!
Done the risotto for dinner with some friends. I don't like chorizo, so I just took some shrimps.
It was very delicious!!!
emhh...looks like so delicious...gonna try soon
unforgettable taste, just great! thanks for the inspiration (i was using some lemon zest extra on top) and greats from hamburg
Again, a great recipe - my first risotto ever and needed to work for guests... perfectly did! I left out the chorizo (vegetarians) but wasn't missing anything flavorwise.
Regarding the peppers, I roasted them as you said and as they came out of the oven, I put a damp kitchen towel right on top of them. That worked just fine for the peeling.
Thanks again for a great recipe!
i love a risotto. and how did you get such beautiful peppers in december? i'm a bit jealous.