Makes 12 cakes
Preparation time: 40 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Oven temperature: 220°C

• 400g carrots, peeled and cut into 5mm-thick batons
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 50ml olive oil
• 150g butter
• 2 leeks, cut into thin rings
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 400g arborio rice
• 1 bay leaf
• 20ml fresh thyme
• 10ml fresh tarragon
• 5ml salt
• black pepper, to taste
• zest and juice of 2 lemons
• 1,2-1,5 litres of vegetable stock
• 180g Parmesan cheese, grated
• 150g semolina

1 Preheat the oven. Place the carrots in a roasting pan and sprinkle the onion on top. Drizzle olive oil over and use your hands to make sure the vegetables are well coated. Spread the vegetables out on a baking sheet and oven roast them until golden brown (about 25 minutes). Chop the carrots finer with a knife or use a food processor.
2 Heat the butter in a saucepan and sauté the leeks until soft and shiny. Add the garlic, stir-fry it for another minute and then sauté slowly over moderate heat until the leeks start to caramelise. Add the rice and stir through until all the grains are covered with butter.
3 Add the herbs and black pepper to taste, followed by the carrots and lemon zest and juice. Stir thoroughly. Pour a soup spoonful of hot stock onto the rice and stir through. Simmer until almost all the liquid has been absorbed and stir from time to time before you add the next spoonful. You will know you have added enough stock when the rice is covered by about a centimetre of stock. Repeat the process until almost all the stock has been used and the rice is sticky and soft.
4 Remove the saucepan from the plate and stir in the Parmesan cheese. Taste and season, if necessary, and then leave it to cool completely. You can now serve the risotto as ordinary risotto by simply sprinkling fresh thyme and tarragon on top and drizzling a bit of olive oil over it.
5 Form the risotto into 12 equal-sized balls as soon as it has cooled completely and roll the balls in the semolina. Press the balls slightly flat and then fry them in olive oil until golden brown on both sides. Serve with grilled fish.

Words and image: Home magazine