In the mood for a low-fat, creamy, comfort-food dinner? Try this! The recipe can be found on the Cooking Light website. I followed the recipe fairly closely, as it is naturally gluten-free – I omitted the white wine (no open bottle), and I used dried thyme in place of the fresh.
Nutrition (serves 4): From Cooking Light – Calories: 324, Fat 10g (3.7g saturated, 3.9g mufa, 0.8g pufa), Protein: 11.7g, Carb: 48g, Fiber: 4.5g, Chol 14mg, Iron: 1.3mg, Sodium: 710mg, Calcium: 101mg.
Nutrition Comments: For a creamy dinner, this is really low fat and has a modest amount of saturated fat. I’d like to see more protein – an easy fix is to add some pre-cooked chicken. The sodium is surprisingly high based on the bland flavor – perhaps it depends on the type of low-sodium broth used. I used Pacific broth which has about 70mg sodium per cup – the only other large source of sodium would be the cheese (1 1/2 T. parmesan has about 150 mg sodium) – I would estimate that using the Pacific low-sodium broth – this recipe had about 250mg of sodium, not 710. No wonder I broke down and added some salt! It’s a good source of fiber too.
Difficulty: Easy. The risotto takes attention, has to be stirred constantly for the entire cooking time, but certainly not complicated!
Flavor Rating: 5.5 on a scale of 1-10. I thought it was bland and definitely needed something to perk it up. The texture was phenomenal with creamy gooey risotto and meaty shiitake mushrooms and the sweet peas.
Alterations: I made two changes, replacing the 1/2 cup white wine with water, and using 1 teaspoon of dried thyme in place of the 2 teaspoons fresh thyme.
What went well: Risotto makes a creamy low-fat dish and with the right seasonings can be very much like a creamy comfort food. I thought this was easy to prepare, and sometimes I am very happy with a vegetarian dish!
What I’d do different: Both my husband and I agreed that the recipe needed some “zing”. I would have added the zest of one lemon which would really perk up the recipe. I’d also use a little more cheese, and might consider an herb other than thyme – but not sure what that would be. It could have used more garlic to. Just turned out bland – so I salted it.
What I served with it:Nothing. My husband added some pre-cooked chicken breast. I just had the risotto and found it very satisfying. I could probably have served it with some steamed broccoli and it would have been fantastic!
Summary: An easy, comfort food that is low in fat. Needs to be perked up with more herbs and garlic, but overall a keeper.
