Spinach, pesto and lemon risotto cake

Photographer: Melanie Jenkins

If you love risotto this cheap and cheerful spinach risotto cake will bring you joy. It's a simple vegetarian dish that's low in sodium and can easily be made gluten free.

Serves: 6

Time to make: 50 mins

Ingredients

More weights & measures

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
100ml white wine
500g (risotto-base) arborio rice
1 cup salt-reduced vegetable stock (see tip)
½ lemon, zest
3 tablespoons basil pesto (see tip)
½ teaspoon black pepper
3 eggs, beaten
3 cups (130g) baby spinach, chopped
½ cup grated parmesan cheese (see tip)

$AVER recipes were costed at $5 or below at the time of publication. We are mindful that seasonal and regional availability and price fluctuations occur - click here for healthy shopping tips for greater savings.

Instructions

Stay Awake

1 Preheat oven to 200°C. Line a 20cm cake tin with baking paper.

2 Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add onion. Gently fry for 5 minutes until soft. Pour in wine and allow to bubble and evaporate. Add rice and stock. Simmer for 5-10 minutes until all liquid has absorbed and rice is sticky. Remove from heat.

3 Stir in lemon zest, pesto and pepper. Leave to cool for 10 minutes.

4 Once cool, mix in eggs, spinach and half the parmesan. Spoon mixture into prepared tin. Level with a spatula and sprinkle with remaining parmesan.

5 Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden and firm to touch. Garnish with fresh basil. Serve in wedges.

Serving suggestion

Tomato and onion salad

Variations

Make it gluten free Check stock, pesto and parmesan are gluten free

HFG tip

To reduce cooking time, use partly-cooked rice, available in pouches from supermarkets. If you’re using regular uncooked rice you may need to increase the stock by 1/2 – 1 cup.

Nutrition Info (per serve)

Calories 442cal

Kilojoules 1850kJ

Protein 13g

Total fat 11g

–Saturated fat 3g

Carbohydrates 70g

–Sugars 3g

Dietary fibre 3g

Sodium 270mg

Calcium 130mg

Iron 2mg

Note: This nutrition analysis is a guide only. Nutrition composition will vary depending on the exact ingredients used. See our guides on your optimal daily nutrition intake, and supermarket shopping.

First published: Jan 2009

One comment on Spinach, pesto and lemon risotto cake

Paul Oborne May 11, 2022 at 2:17 pm #

1 cup of stock wasn’t enough to even begin to cook the rice so the result was tasty but dry. I will try it again but with more liquid and longer initial cooking time for the rice.

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