Vegan Roasted Vegetable and Wheat berry Risotto. Super easy and hearty, this combination of sweet vegetables and savory wheat berries is your new favourite Fall dish!
Life is just non stop at the moment, in a good way though. After the whole surgery thing happened last month, I needed to take some time off and just *be* for a little while, but I’m not very good at sitting still, and I’m very ready to be back to normal life!
This week I’m in the UK for a friend’s wedding. It’s probably the first of our close friends to get married and I’m ridiculously excited! I’m writing this post at 7am before running around for the day getting various bits and bobs ready! I know it’s going to be a day full of so much joy and happiness, I just can’t wait!!
Times like this are where meals like this one come in handy, the ones that you can set and forget. This wheat berry risotto is like the no fuss version of real risotto. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE real risotto and think it’s a great weeknight dinner, but this version doesn’t even require gradually adding the stock, meaning you can pretty much let it bubble away and sort itself out.
The roasted vegetables take care of themselves in the oven, so really, the most strenuous part of this dish, is eating it… and that’s not too hard when you see how colourful it is ;)
Related: Winter Wheat Berry Salad
Wheat berries are such a fun little grain. They are short and fat, giving them a really hearty texture and by cooking them in vegetable stock, they take on tons of wonderful flavour.
So there you have it, wheat berry risotto. A dinner where you can take whatever you have in the fridge, throw it in the oven and serve it with wheat berries. Hearty, delicious and super easy.
Wheat Berry Risotto with Winter Roasted Vegetables
Ingredients
Risotto
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 Leek
- 1 Clove Garlic minced
- 1/4 cup (50ml) Dry White Wine
- 1 cup (165g) Wheat Berries
- 1 + 2/3 cup (400ml) Vegetable Stock
- 1/2 cup (75g) Frozen Peas
- 1 Handful parsley
- 4-5 Fresh Mint Leaves
- Pomegranate Seeds
- Chopped Pistachios
Roasted Veg
- 1 Red Pepper
- 1 Red Onion
- 1 Yellow Pepper
- 10-12 Cherry Tomatoes
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- Sea Salt
- Black Pepper
Instructions
- Roughly chop the vegetables for roasting and arrange on a flat baking tray lined with parchment paper. Add the olive oil, season with salt and pepper and toss so all the vegetables are coated. Bake at 180°C for 25-30 minutes until the vegetables are really soft and slightly brown on the edges.
- While the vegetables are in the oven, finely slice the leek and fry on a medium heat in a large saute pan with 1 tablespoon of olive oil for about 5 minutes until it starts to soften.
- Add the minced garlic and fry for 1 minute. Add the wheat berries and fry for another 1-2 minutes.
- Add the white wine and stir. Cook until the wine is completely absorbed, then add the vegetable stock and peas and stir. Cook until all the stock has been absorbed, stirring occasionally.
- Once all the stock is absorbed, add a squeeze of lemon juice and the finely chopped parsley.
- Serve the risotto in a large bowl, topped with the roasted vegetables, some more chopped parsley, chopped pistachios, pomegranate seeds and some fresh mint leaves.
