I've got some risotto rice......

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...and I don't know what to do with it! I need some inspiration to make a delicious meal for my (nearly) 2 year old and maybe myself and DP. Any ideas?

Make a risotto Ou can add pretty much anything, but this is one of our favourites

Chop and fry two red onions gently for at least 10 minutes in some olive oil. Chuck in the risotto rice and fry for 2 minutes. Have a pan of simmering water on the stove, and add a couple of ladles to the rice/onions. Stir the rice until all water is absorbed, add more water - repeat for about 30 minutes until rice is soft. (Have the pan on a medium heat). About 10 minutes from the end put into the pan a large pinch of saffron, and a tin/jar of roasted red peppers (chopped up).
DD loves this, but using water instead of stock makesit quite bland so I usually take some out for her, and then add lots of marigold bouillon powder (disolved in a bit of boiling water) to ours, and top with grated parmesan

We have chicken, bacon and leeks (DD has sweetcorn in hers as well).

We use small chicken pieces and any left over veg (peppers, broccoli, sliced carrot, sweetcorn or peas). Fry onion and peppers in tblesp olive oil, add rice and fry for a couple of minutes more, add stock or water bring to simmer for 10 minutes. Add chicken and any veg, such as carrot, requiring boiling, simmer for 10 minutes adding more liquid as necessary. Finally add rest of veg and simmer for 5 mins until liquid absorbed. You need to stir it pretty frequently and add the liquid a little at a time. The kids like itbecause it sticks together so is easy for them to scoop up. I often add a clove of garlic to the onion to give it more flavour and a sprinkle of Italian herbs and black pepper towards the end.

I sometimes do garlic with onion and peas, also red pepper, then about 5 mins before it is ready add some chopped asparagus -- yummy! then turn heat off, add grated parmesan and chopped coriander, put lid on and leave for 3 mins ( for cheese to melt) then eat ,delicious!

dh makes an amazing red wine risotto, sounds vile but is one of the nicest things I've ever tasted. If you're interested I can dig the recipe out.

Then tomorrow, use left over risotto to make my new addiction - Arancini. Shape spoonfuls of risotto into balls, egg and crumb then shallow fry, sometimes I push a chunk of cheese into the middle of the ball. These are soooooooooooo delicous! My daughter loves them and if I make them for her i always make a few extra for myself!

Oooh yes dh does these too, they are like risotto doughnuts with mozarella instead of jam! Particularly good with saffron risotto and mozarella and a little basil stuffed in the middle. Think arrancini means little oranges (as this is what they look like)

Lemon and rocket risotto is pretty gorgeous as well, might be a bit sharp for a child, maybe. Mushroom is the bog standard one I do, sometimes add some peas to it (probably sacrilege but...)

Not sacrilege - official!!

Jame Oliver (I think) prawn and pea risotto.

Can't remember how to make it, but sure is just red onions, prawns and peas, rice and chicken or veg stock. Think there might be mint in it too but maybe babe wouldn't like that.

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The best is wild mushroom risotto, the most popular I think. I'm sure there's a recipe on cooking.com or just google it! Or you could make rice pudding... my ds loves it, (but absolutely plain, no raisins...)

ggglimpopo I'm afraid I can't get to the recipe book at the mo because my house is packed up (having building work done). Can you post this request again in a month!

Pain free oven risotto.

Despite the long instructions this is very simple to prepare, tasty and equally as nice cold. The sluglet (who admittedly has very strange tastebuds) cheerfully eats this even when it is full of chillies.

Brown some minced chicken, preferably in a pan with little or no oil. Put this into a roasting dish and, while the pan is still hot, quickly dry fry some risotto rice. Leave it for a few minutes or until the colour starts to change slightly. It should go white then slightly brown. (though this step isn't at all necessary) Add it to the roasting dish with a chopped onion/garlic/any old veggies lurking in the bottom of the fridge. Make up some chicken stock and pour some into the pan and scrape up any bits sticking there, add this and all the rest of the stock to the roasting dish. The liquid should JUST cover the rice. Add any spices you want. Chilli, lemon or lime juice, corriander, kaffir lime leaves, cumin seeds, limegrass and mustard seeds all work well.

At this point you can refidgerate it if you don't want to cook it immediatly.

Cover tightly with either a lid or tinfoil. Put in the oven at about 180 - 200 degrees C for about 25 minutes. Take it out, take the lid off and check the state of the rice. You may want to add a little more liquid at this point. (You might want to add some spinach now) Put it back in the oven for 5 - 10 minutes without the lid to boil off excess liquid or brown the tips of the rice sticking out.