(Serves 4)

Ingredients
1 shallot, peeled and chopped
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or butter
250 g Arborio or Carnaroli rice
1 beetroot, cooked and grated
2 or 3 dried porcini, broken into pieces, and soaked
100 ml good dry red wine, hot
Up to 500 ml vegetable stock, hot
200 ml fresh carrot juice
Gozo sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Butter
Parmesan cheese

Method
Fry the shallot in the oil, and then stir in the rice until coated with oil. Add a handful of the beetroot, the porcini and its soaking water, and the red wine. Simmer the rice, stirring until the liquid is absorbed. Add a ladle of stock, and let the rice absorb it as you continue to stir, before adding more liquid, and so on.

Once you have added half the stock, stir in the remaining beetroot and the carrot juice. Cook until the liquid is absorbed. If the rice is not cooked to your liking once you have used all the stock, add boiling water. Before serving, stir in a generous knob of butter.

Serve the risotto in heated bowls, and sprinkle with chopped chives, if you like. You can stir in some grated Parmesan cheese to the risotto before serving it, or pass it round separately.