Grilled Ratatouille Risotto

It's September... What???? It's September? Uh... my last post was in July... where did August go?

I'll sum up my month of August in 5 words and that'll probably explain why I haven't posted in so long. 

Job * House * Puppy * Vacation * Grill

Yep, we like a challenge.  I got a nice job, we bought a house, got a little puppy Lucy, took a "Vacation" to Minnesota and bought a grill.  I know, a grill probably isn't significant to most of you, but it is to us. We've been grilling every meal since we bought the thing and LOVE it! Not as much as our new puppy though.  Let's talk about her...

 Here is Lucy.  She also goes by Goose, Megusta and Gustavo

 Here is Lucy eating her bone. She's a foodie like her mom and only goes for the best.

 Here is Lucy playing in the garden.  She prefers cherry tomatoes. 


She is the love of our lives.  And time consuming... very time consuming, which is the biggest reason for my lack of posting in the last month.  Pretty unfortunate because we've had some awesome postworthy meals.   Like this one... I was going through our fridge and really wanted ratatouille since it's fall (90 degrees out, but still fall).  Since we grill everything these days, I was going to create grilled ratatouille and since Nick always complains that ratatouille isn't filling enough for a meal, I wanted to add a starch and voila... we got grilled ratatouille risotto.  Um it's pretty much the most amazing thing ever and with grilled focaccia... awesome!!!  This would be an awesome thing to grill on a nice cool fall evening... with a nice glass of Cabernet. YUM!  I would definitely put this in the top 5 most awesomest meals I've created category.  Hope you enjoy!

Grilled Ratatouille Risotto

Ingredients:

For the Risotto:

1 shallot, thinly chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup Arborio rice

1/2 cup dry white wine + more for drinking (I actually used red this time, a cab)

4 cups of vegetable broth (here is the homemade recipe)

1 tablespoon butter

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons olive oil or grapeseed oil

*This is the base to all of my risottos

For the grill:

1 eggplant, chopped into about 2 inch squares

1 zucchini, chopped

1 yellow squash, chopped

1/2 red onion, chopped

10 basil leaves, roughly chopped

1 large tomato, chopped

2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons of olive oil

4 pieces of foccacia bread, optional but very delicious

Directions:

Preheat grill to about 400. 

In a medium sized sauce pot, bring veggie broth to a boil, then turn down to a simmer to keep warm.

In a large saucepan, heat a drizzle of oil over medium high heat and add shallot and garlic.  Stir and cook about 2 minutes.  Add the rice and stir to coat with oil.  Saute until it turns a golden brown, about 2 minutes. Add white wine and stir.  Add 1/2 cup of the broth and stir continuously until it soaks in.  Repeat this step until the rice is plump, but still has a bite.  You don't want it to be mush.  After the broth is all soaked up, add the pad of butter and Parmesan cheese and stir until cheese is melty. Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Meanwhile... In a large mixing bowl, add grilling veggies except for the tomatoes, the basil, the balsamic vinegar and olive oil.  Give everything a quick toss and transfer to a grilling basket.  If you don't have a grilling basket, get one. They are awesome!  You could probably use foil, but you should probably just buy a grilling basket, they are like 10 bucks. 

Transfer grilling basket to the preheated grill and close the lid.  It should take about 15 minutes for everything to be nice and smokey.  Toss every few minutes to make sure everything is evenly cooked/charred. However you like it.  Towards the end, add the tomatoes and cook for another few minutes.  You can toss a piece of bread on the grates for a couple of minutes too to get nice and toasty.  

Enjoy and tell your friends!!