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Before tomatoes completely disappear from this area for a while and I have to resort to the canned variety (boo!), I thought I'd better make the most of them.  This risotto recipe makes one of those meals that if I go too long without eating, the world starts to feel slightly out of whack.  I think it has something to do with all the stirring. Stirring is soothing :)

The ingredients are super simple:
2-3 cups of veggie stock (I use vegeta, because it's the goods.)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups aborio rice
1 onion
2 (or 3) cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon chopped fresh chilli
6 tomatoes
1 bunch of spinach
Salt & Pepper to taste

Start by putting the stock on to simmer while you chop up the onion and garlic.  Next, heat the olive oil in a big pot on low heat (you can add a dab of butter substitute here if you want to make it extra creamy but I don't find that I need it), add the onion and garlic let it cook for about 5 mins then add the rice and chilli and stir it around, making sure it doesn't stick to the bottom, until the rice gets a kind of glassy look.

Pour two ladles worth (2/3 of a cup ish?)  of stock, over the rice and keep stirring until it is all soaked up before adding another. The idea is to add a little bit of stock, let it all soak up and and the add a little bit more until the rice is cooked through, not mushy on the outside and not crunchy on the inside.

When the rice is just about done, I add the tomatoes (that have magically chopped themselves while I was stirring) and the spinach, mix it all up a bit, pop the lid on and turn off the heat.  This gives the spinach time to steam and warms up the tomato, make sure there is a bit of liquid in the pot so that the remaining heat doesn't dry it all out.  If you have any fresh herbs - chives, basil, parsley or the like, chop them while you wait :)

Serve up, sprinkle herbs and salt and pepper if you have them and dig in. Creamy, rich simple, and even better the next day. Perfect.