Baked Meyer Lemon & Thyme Risotto {Naptime Everyday}
What’s Going on Today: Post holiday unwind, nearing time to take down the tree.
Naptime Goals: Baked risotto and have it ready to reheat for dinner, put older toys in storage to make room for the new ones!
Tonight’s Menu: Baked Meyer lemon and thyme risotto, green salad, sparkling water with lemon.
KITCHENAID MIXER GIVEAWAY! Don’t forget to enter below to enter the Duda Farm Fresh Giveaway for a Meyer Lemons, a $25 Williams-Sonoma giftcard and a KitchenAid Artisan 5-Quart Stand Mixer in Majestic Yellow. Entry rules below, click here for contest introduction.
We are in holiday wind-down mode. All of our family has gone home, the presents are put away and we are more or less decompressing from all of the excitement. My daughter has actually been napping pretty regularly for the past few days. She really needs that hour or so in the afternoon to make up for all of the energy she is expending. Yesterday I used her naptime to make a quick, comforting baked risotto with the last of the Meyer lemons in my fridge.
I often make risotto the regular way, but sometimes I use the baking method because it is so easy to do in advance. For this dish I recipe I added in ample amounts of lemon zest and juice and a nice dose of fresh thyme leaves from my herb pot, which is still thriving by the big window in our master bedroom.
That evening I simply reheated it in a warm oven, though you could easily microwave each portion on a plate, and we paired it with a salad and panko chicken. It was the warm, comforting meal that we needed as we bid 2011 goodbye and welcome an fresh, exciting new year.
Rules for Homemade Gift Giveaway & KitchenAid mixer grand prize!:
1. Leave a comment sharing what your favorite homemade edible gift to give or receive.
2. Subscribe to The Naptime Chef newsletter (upper right hand corner) – I’ll check!
3. Become a fan of The Naptime Chef on Facebook
4. Visit Duda’s website and tell me what recipe you would like to try to make using meyer lemons (use the ‘Older Entries’ link at the bottom of the page to view even more recipes). Leave a comment telling me which recipe.
5. 1 Extra Entry: Share the link to this post with your friends on Facebook and link to @TheNaptimeChef Facebook fanpage
6. 1 Extra Entry: Tweet about this giveaway on Twitter and link to hashtag @TheNaptimeChef
7. 1 Extra Entry: Follow me on Stumbleupon and stumble this entry by clicking the green thumbs up.
8. 6 Extra Entries: Share the post about this article from my Facebook fanpage to at least 10 friends to help The Naptime Chef get to 4,000 fans by New Years! (I can see who shares what, so I will note when you share!)
9. Weekly winners will be announced on Sunday December 11th at 7:00am ET, Sunday December 18th at 7:00am ET, and Monday December 26th at 7:00am ET. The GRAND PRIZE drawing for the KitchenAid mixer will be announced on December 30th at 7:00opm.
10. All winners will be selected by Random.org. Each week the contest for the Meyer Lemon Tote and $25 giftcard will start fresh. Entries from the previous week will not be considered. The grand prize drawing pool will include all entries from the start of the contest on December 5th at 7:00amET through December 29th at 9:00pm ET.
Disclosure: I received the same products the winner will receive. The items were generously donated by Duda Farm Fresh Foods but the opinions and recipe expressed are entirely my own.
Recipe
Baked Meyer Lemon & Thyme Risotto
Ingredients
| 2 | tablespoons olive oil |
| 2 | large shallots, finely chopped |
| 3 | cloves garlic, finely chopped |
| 2 ¼ | cups arborio rice |
| 1 1/3 | cups white wine |
| 4 ½ | cups vegetable stock |
| 3 | Meyer lemons, zested and juiced |
| 1 | teaspoon chopped fresh thyme |
| 1 | cup grated Parmesan cheese |
| 1 | teaspoon kosher salt |
Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 375F. Lightly oil the inside of a 9×13 baking dish and set aside.
2. In a large saute pan heat the oil and add the shallots and garlic. Cook them over medium heat until they are soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in the thyme and cook for one minute. Then, stir in the rice and cook it for about 2 minutes, stirring so the rice gets completely coated with the oil.
3. Pour in the white wine and scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan and simmer until the wine is absorbed, about a minute or two. Finally, reduce the heat to low, stir in the vegetable stock and simmer for about 6 to 8 minutes. Then stir in the Meyer lemon juice and zest, the Parmesan cheese and the salt.
4. Pour the mixture into the baking dish and sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil for the last five minutes to allow the top to brown slightly. Serve hot.
Naptime Notes
Naptime Recipe Serving ideas
This recipe will work just as well with regular lemons, though Meyer lemons have a slightly sweeter taste. Pair with a lean meat or fish that makes a terrific weekday meal.
Naptime Stopwatch
15 minutes prep time, 30 minutes bake time
Naptime Reviews
I love this preparation because it is so convenient and the rice really swells up during baking. The risotto is soft and fluffy and perfectly hot all the way through.
More Naptime Recipes
I’m very simple – I love giving and receiving cookies. You can tell a lot about someone’s personality by what kind of cookies they make!
I’m your newest FB fan!
This is going into my Meyer lemon recipe collection. I have some leftover chicken I might add to it but love the simplicity of the dish as is…
I love to receive anything homemade. This year, I will attempt to make citrus jam from my own citrus trees. Just need to wait a few more weeks for things to fully ripen
I subscribe to your newsletter
I’m a fan on facebook
I think I’ll make the meyer lemon pound cake!
I tweeted with a link to this page: http://twitter.com/#!/HSongSays/status/152090626660372480
I gave candy cane infused vodka. It was a hit!
My fav edible gift I have given is a tie between Vanilla extract, Blackberry Cordial, and A Cocoa set with Mocha Marshmallows. ^^ My fav homemade gift that goes with cooking is a custome vintage pink skulls apron from my sister. I begged for this and absolutely love it!
I’m a fan of The Naptime Chef on Facebook – I want to try the PB Hot Chocolate for the hubby really soon. 😛
I think I would have to go with Meyer Lemon Poppy Seed Vinaigrette first. I have actually been looking for a healthier alternative to my ranch addiction and that sound wonderful!
I shared the link with my giveaway group on facebook but it won’t let me put your name in it… I tried the + person thing and @thenaptimechef but it won’t pop up. 🙁
Tweeted! http://twitter.com/#!/LilyBard/status/152344934291210240
I shared it via StumbleUpon… but I am new and can;t figure out how to follow you or find you. I am listed under the same email address but can;t seem to figure out how to follow you to save my life. 🙁
Shared with 10 friends from your FB page! -1
Shared with 10 friends from your FB page! -2
Shared with 10 friends from your FB page! -3
Shared with 10 friends from your FB page! -4
Shared with 10 friends from your FB page! -5
Shared with 10 friends from your FB page! -6
I think my favorite edible gift would have to be a bouquet of cake pops. 😀
Also liked The Naptime Chef on FB
Tweeted: http://twitter.com/#!/Zizkamaus
Subscribed to newsletter as well. ^^
amazing and great post
[…] up on my list of Slow-Cooker Challenge dishes to try was a grain-based dish. Given my love of baking risotto I had to wonder, could it be slow-cooked? The principal of the dish, rice slowly absorbing moisture […]