Oven-baked risotto with basil, lemon and parmesan

It's monday and this is the first meat-free monday post I've written in a while. Fall is in a full swing here in Switzerland and the sun has worked up the force to beat the fog, so I decided to make something easy and fast that didn't need a lot of work and soak up the nice weather as much as possible. I still wanted some comfort food though, which is why I turned to a risotto recipe from Donna Hay. Her oven-baked risottos are fool-proof and absolutely delicious. It's like magic - throw all ingredients into a oven-proof tin, give them a quick stir and let your oven cook the rice for 30 minutes until it's perfectly creamy and cooked. And you're free to do whatever you like in the meantime. 

This recipe is from Donna Hay's latest book "the new easy" which features a ton of new, fast recipes that need little prep, but nevertheless offer a ton of flavor. The recipe happens to be vegetarian and can be tweaked into being vegan, so it's a perfect meat-free alternative.

Here's the recipe:
30g (1/4 stick) unsalted butter
1 onion
2 tablespoon lemon thyme
2 cloves of garlic (optional, as always)
250g (8.8 oz; 1 1/4 cups) arborio rice (or any risotto rice you have on hand)
1l (32 fl.oz; 4 cups) chicken or vegetable stock 
1 tablespoon lemon zest (from 1 medium organic lemon)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
80g (2.8 oz; 1 cup) grated parmesan (or a vegan cheese substitute)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 handfuls fresh basil (1 package of 20g)

1) Preheat the oven to 200°C (395°F). Dice the onion finely. Press the garlic cloves. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat and cook the onion and thyme for 5 minutes until the onions has softened. Add the garlic and cook for another 30 seconds.

2) Add the onion-garlic mixture to your oven-proof baking dish. Add the rice and stock, give it a stir and cover with aluminium foil. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes.

3) If you didn't buy grated parmesan, grate the parmesan while the risotto is baking. Grate the lemon zest as well. Cut the basil leaves into thin strips.

4) When the risotto has cooked, stir through the parmesan, lemon juice and lemon zest and basil and season with salt and pepper. 
© Donna Hay "the new easy", p. 133.

Yield: 4 portions 
Active preparation time: 10 minutes
Total preparation time: 40 minutes

Here's how mine turned out:

I love how quick and easy you can assemble this risotto. I also adore the flavors. If you're looking for a risotto that's suitable for fall, try Donna's version with sweet potato and bacon. 
This risotto has just the right amount of freshness from the lemon while the basil and parmesan round the flavor and take you straight to a sun-filled day in Italy - in your mind at least. You can perfectly eat this on its own or serve it along some saltimbocca (if you're not on meat-free monday). 

Have fun trying and have a lovely, sunny, golden fall week!