Beetroot Risotto with Goat's Cheese and Walnuts

For the final two dishes of the week I am going to try and illustrate the versatility of beetroot as an ingredient. It blends with an amazing array of flavours and two of the best matches are goat's cheese and walnuts. I am going to carry these across the two dishes, but with two very different outcomes. The first dish of risotto with goat's cheese and walnuts is a visually spectacular dish, the bright red of the beets stains the rice and sits in contrast to the creamy white of the scattered goat's cheese. This dish is a great step away from a more traditional risotto. The beets are wrapped individually in foil, along with a dash of olive oil and salt. Once they are tender they are peeled and diced. A handful can be processed and added to the stock, which gives the risotto that brilliant red. The remainder are cooked for a few minutes with some red wine vinegar and white sugar in a pan to enhance the beets' sweetness and acidity. Once the risotto is nearly done, stir the remaining chopped beets through the risotto and scatter the goat's cheese and roasted walnuts across the risotto. The key to this dish lies in the delicious sweet explosions of beetroot alternated with the tartness of the goat's cheese. The crunch and nutty flavour of the walnuts sets off perfectly against the creamy risotto. Go easy on the parmesan if you usually use it, as the goat's cheese needs to shine through for this dish to work.