Sweet, earthy and creamy roasted eggplant works beautifully in this simple risotto spiked with chilli and lemon. Once you’ve mastered a basic risotto, you can be as creative as you like and add your favourite flavours to this comforting staple.
Preheat oven to 200°C fan-forced. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Chop eggplant into 4cm pieces and arrange on tray in an even layer. Drizzle with 20ml (1 tablespoon) olive oil, sprinkle with salt and toss to coat. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden and soft.
Heat 750ml (3 cups) water in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add stock cube and stir to dissolve. Reduce heat to low and keep warm.
Finely chop eschalots and chilli and crush garlic. Pick basil leaves from their stems. Heat 10ml (1⁄2 tablespoon) oil in a frypan over medium heat. Add eschalot, chilli and garlic and cook, stirring, for 6–8 minutes or until eschalot has softened. Add rice to pan and stir to coat grains.
Add hot stock, 250ml (1 cup) at a time to the pan, stirring continuously and allowing the stock to be absorbed before adding the next cupful, until all stock has been used and rice is cooked and mixture has thickened. This will take about 20 minutes. The rice should be creamy but still retain some bite.
While risotto is cooking, finely grate lemon zest and set aside. Thinly slice cucumber. To make dressing, combine juice of lemon with remaining oil and season with salt and pepper. Add dressing to salad and mix well.
Add baked eggplant, basil leaves, butter, parmesan and lemon zest to risotto and stir to combine. Serve with salad.