An early. morning. winter. run. Doesn’t happen for me all that often, but when it does, I remember how beautiful the light is and how exciting mornings can be.

20 minutes after I stop, I also remember how cold and hungry I am. Hence: root vegetable risotto.

Don’t think heavy rice and hours of adding small amounts of liquid. There’s a time and place for the classic. But this recipe here is about warming up quick and getting good nutrients in, relatively fast.

What you’ll need:

1 small sweet potato, small dice
1 large parsnip, small dice
8 baby carrots, small dice
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 medium onion, minced
1/2 cup parsley, minced
1/4 cup white wine (optional)
2 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar (double if you don’t use wine)
butter
blue cheese crumbles to taste (read: a good scoop.. or two)

• Dice sweet potatoes, parsnip and carrots. Salt & pepper. Set aside.
• Melt butter in sauce pan on medium heat. Maybe a sliver a 1/4 inch thick? Not a ton.
• Mince onion and garlic. Add to pan.
• As soon as they start to turn brown, add vegetables.
  • As these cook, try not to smash them. You want the little cubes to brown up, but not mash.
• After 8-10 minutes of browning, turn temperature to medium low. Add wine and rice vinegar and parsley.

• Keep mixture simmering until nearly all the liquid evaporates.
  • This is a good time to take a quick shower *not that I’m advocating unattended cooking (news producer, kitchen fires..).
• Sprinkle with blue cheese 

I know some people use apple sauce or chicken broth in their root veggie risottos. Something to try if you don’t have wine!

Enjoy!