Golden Risotto

1. Simmer 8 cups vegetable stock in a saucepan. Take care not to let it boil over or constantly boil. Leave the stock to gently simmer and start chopping the vegetables.
2. Add onion, garlic, sweet potato, and carrot to another sauce pan with the oil. Saute together for about 10 minutes. Make sure to stir so the veggies won't burn to the pot! After 10 minutes, pop the lid on the saucepan and 'sweat' the veggies for a little while. About 4 minutes. Don't worry if the veggies aren't soft yet - they will get become cooked.
3. Add the rice. Stir the rice for 1 minute, or until you start to feel resistance. I suggest only using arborio rice. It is risotto rice for a reason - you want the end result to be creamy and gooey - from all the starchiness that arborio rice provides. Lower the stove to medium-low heat. Add 1/2 cup of stock to the rice and stir constantly.
4. Stir until the stock has just been absorbed by the rice. It should still be a little wet - but it should not be dry. Keep adding the stock in 1/2 cup at a time, remembering to stir constantly! When 1 cup of stock has been added, stir in the nutmeg and thyme thoroughly. When the 4th or 5th cup of stock has been added, that is the time to add in the basil and sundried tomatoes. Once again, stir in thoroughly. We want the sundried tomatoes to break down slightly when cooking, so it's okay to stir vigorously. Keep adding in the stock 1/2 a cup at a time.
5. When the rice is almost ready, add in the fresh parsley and stir in. Also stir through some freshly cracked black pepper. Leave to cook for those final minutes. When the risotto is ready, plate and garnish with more cracked black pepper and a little more of the parsley.
NOTES : You may use less or more of the stock - just one of those things. Somedays the risotto might need more, somedays it might need less. Such is the fun of cooking. Always make sure to have the heat down at medium low. You can roast the sweet potato and carrot prior to cooking if desired, but when cooking in the same pot as the risotto, you are going to save those nutrients which come out whilst cooking and they're not going to leech anywhere. Plus it attributes to the awesome golden color.Feel free to peel the vegetables - but it might be nice to keep the skins on for extra nutritional value.
When making risotto I don't ever make mine with wine or vegan parm - my boyfriend hated the taste of both before he went vegan so he obviously will not eat them now -so I compensate for their loss with extra herbs - I think this risotto is full of flavour as it is with all the herbs in it - and especially from the sundried tomato.
Source of recipe: I wanted to surprise my boyfriend when he came home from class - but noticed we had little to nothing in the cupboard and fridge.I was inspired by the Sweet Potato Risotto which is here onsite. How to cook the sweet potato came from that recipe - everything else came from my head