The evolution of Delia's tomato risotto

Tonight I am making one of my favourite vegetarian meals - tomato risotto. Well that's what I call it now because it is no longer the recipe on which it is based - Roasted and sun-dried tomato risotto from Delia's Winter Collection. (Do check it out - its one of her more brilliant recipes.) Odd isn't it that it should be in her winter book rather than the summer one, because we think of tomatoes as being summery. I guess they are really a more autumnal fruit if we are honest, but nevertheless think summer and think tomatoes - well if you're thinking of food anyway.

But that's an aside, though it often means that I look in the wrong place for the recipe when I am making it again. If I want to make the original version that is. Mostly I just improvise around the basic structure. I first made this recipe several years ago now when we had some vegetarian friends to dinner. It seemed substantial enough and fancy enough for a dinner party. And we were all blown away by it's intense tomato taste. I swore I would make it again, but it takes a bit of time, in that you have to roast the tomatoes, so over time I have adapted and modified until it is really no longer the same dish that I first made. But that's what we are all supposed to do really isn't it? Use your cookbooks for ideas and experiments and then adapt to suit your own taste.

I had a look at the recipe again and I see that she has saffron threads in it. I suspect I have only added them very occasionally, and I don't think I shall bother tonight either. I do have some, but it seems to me that the flavour of the tomatoes is so dominant that it doesn't really need it. Mind you you could add anchovies or olives I suppose. They are traditional partners of tomatoes, but so far I haven't used them. Well David doesn't really like them. And Tony Naylor of The Guardian also does not think you should tinker too much.

"Beyond the basics of a classic risotto bianco (rice, stock, butter, onion, optional garlic, wine, parmesan), a risotto should include no more than two “extra” ingredients. You want those individual flavours to shine through in a complementary way. Anything more complex can quickly become a muddle" Tony Naylor.

So what do I do that is different? Well I don't roast the tomatoes. However, I tend to only make this when I have some oven dried tomatoes - and I do at the moment - though this time they are a gift from my son, rather than my own. I might also add some dried tomatoes from the supermarket - soaked first in some boiling water or stock. They also add a bit of extra oomph. And you can use the soaking water in the risotto. The bulk of the tomatoes though will be my lovely big ones from my garden, boosted perhaps by a few supermarket ones, peeled and chopped and added to the rice fairly early on, so that they can melt into the risotto.

I also shall be using the oil from the top of my jar of pesto and I may swirl some pesto on the top at the end - diluted with oil perhaps. But I don't always have the pesto and so then I might just be adding oregano or basil leaves instead. And failing them - parsley.

Because I was making this particular version of risotto I thought I would check out what other cooks and chefs did, and found to my surprise that there really were not that many different versions out there. Indeed there were very few versions at all. The Silver Spoon, which is purportedly the Italian cooking bible does not have a single recipe for tomato risotto. It has lots and lots of risotto recipes including a strawberry risotto recipe but not a tomato one. Why? Tony Naylor, in his article How to Eat Risotto, listed tomatoes as one of the ingredients not to use because, they are "incapable of maintaining your attention as the main flavour". Which I simply do not agree with.

But I guess it explains why some - like Jamie Oliver - add other things like chorizo in his case, and bacon or mushrooms in others. I saw chicken as an extra as well or prawns. Jamie Oliver uses red wine as well, which I tend to think is a bit too heavy. I shall be using white wine, and probably not enough either, but it will be what's left in the bottle after our dinner last night.

I also learnt a couple of other things whilst 'researching' for this post. There is a basic process for risotto - I think they said five steps, but I'm not sure I have five. Let's see. Gently cook chopped onion or shallots until soft but not brown. Add rice and toast a bit. I think until it looks transparent. Add your wine - it should sizzle as it hits the pan. Stir around for a bit and then start adding your liquid little by little. To constantly stir or not to stir? All the liquid at once, or bit by bit? Well there are many arguments about this of course. Me I add it bit by bit but don't stir constantly. I do stir regularly though. You add your other ingredients according to how long they need to cook. When it's all cooked you add some parmesan and some butter and beat until creamy. As to the texture - apparently the fashion these days is for soupy rather than dry - all a matter of personal taste I reckon. And if you go for dry there's a danger of burning. I think I go for somewhere in between really soupy and very dry. But then I'm an in between kind of person.

"Risotto is a self-contained meal. One within which all the constituent ingredients should be chopped and mixed so that you get a little of everything in each moist mouthful." Tony Naylor

Serve it on a plate or in a bowl - again I think this is personal - and scatter parmesan on top or leave a bowl on the table for people to help themselves.

Of course in this day of healthy food before all things, there are lots of 'risotto' recipes using other grains and other cheeses - mozzarella and feta were the most common that I saw. The purists pour great scorn on these but then the most trendy of the chefs do it so maybe the purists are wrong. Yotam Ottolenghi, for example has a recipe for Barley, tomato and garlic risotto. With feta on top.

Then there are those who would use tinned tomatoes rather than fresh - e.g. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and I think that could work - the flavour of tinned tomatoes is more intense and would therefore shine through I guess.

I'm looking forward to it anyway and shall probably be improvising as I go along. As always.